冠 meaning and stroke order
Cap, crown, headgear
How to write 冠, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
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- 8
- 9
Meaning of 冠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- hat
- crown
- crest
- cap
- to put on a hat
- to be first
- to dub
How 冠 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A man 元 puts on a cap 冖 with his hand 寸.
Radical: 冖 (cover), shared by 14 characters on this site.
How to remember 冠
A person 元 lifts a cap 冖 onto his head with his hand 寸. Picture someone placing a crown on their own head, and you have 冠 (guān), a cap or crown.
As guān, 冠 is a noun for headgear or a crest, as in 皇冠 (huángguān) or 鸡冠 (jīguān, a rooster's comb). As guàn, it means to be first, and it appears most often in sports words like 冠军 (guànjūn) and 夺冠 (duóguàn). Example: 她得了冠军。(Tā dé le guànjūn.) She won the championship.
Common mistake: Learners often read 冠军 with the first tone as guānjūn, but it is fourth tone, guànjūn, because it uses the sense of being first. Also do not confuse 冠 with 寇 (kòu, bandit), which has 宀 on top instead of 冖.
Common words with 冠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
冠 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 冠
How many strokes are in 冠?
冠 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 冠 mean?
冠 (guān) means cap, crown, headgear. A common word with it is 冠军 (guànjūn), meaning "champion".
How do you pronounce 冠?
冠 is pronounced guān, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 冠?
The radical of 冠 is 冖, which carries the idea of "cover". Dictionaries list 冠 under this radical.
Is 冠 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 冠 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I know whether to say guān or guàn?
Use guān when 冠 is a thing you wear or a crest, like 皇冠 or 王冠. Use guàn when it means being first or putting something on, like 冠军 or 夺冠.
What does 冠 mean in the word 新冠?
新冠 (xīnguān) is short for 新型冠状病毒, the novel coronavirus. Here 冠状 means crown-shaped, describing how the virus looks under a microscope, so it is read guān.