娩 meaning and stroke order
Childbirth, labor
How to write 娩, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 娩
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to give birth to a child
- complaisant
- agreeable
How 娩 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Woman.
女 gives the meaning and 免 hints at the sound.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 娩
娩 is a woman 女 (nǚ) on the left with 免 (miǎn) on the right, which gives the sound. Picture a woman 女 being freed 免 of her burden as the baby arrives, and you have childbirth.
娩 (miǎn) almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. You will mostly see it in the formal or medical word 分娩 (fēnmiǎn), to give birth, which is used in hospitals, news reports and textbooks. Example: 她昨天在医院分娩了。(Tā zuótiān zài yīyuàn fēnmiǎn le.) She gave birth at the hospital yesterday.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 娩 with 挽 (wǎn, to pull or hold back) and 晚 (wǎn, late), which share the 免 part but have different radicals. Check for the woman radical 女 on the left, and remember that 娩 in 分娩 is read miǎn, not wǎn.
Common words with 娩
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 分娩 | fēnmiǎn | to give birth to a baby; (of animals) to give birth to young |
Questions about 娩
How many strokes are in 娩?
娩 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 娩 mean?
娩 (miǎn) means childbirth, labor. A common word with it is 分娩 (fēnmiǎn), meaning "to give birth to a baby; (of animals) to give birth to young".
How do you pronounce 娩?
娩 is pronounced miǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 娩?
The radical of 娩 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 娩 under this radical.
Is 分娩 the normal way to say give birth in everyday speech?
Not usually. In daily conversation people say 生孩子 (shēng háizi) or 生了 (shēng le). 分娩 sounds formal or medical, like saying delivery or labor in a hospital setting.
When is 娩 pronounced wǎn?
The reading wǎn has the old literary meaning of agreeable or gentle, but it is very rare and you are unlikely to meet it outside classical texts. In modern Chinese you can treat 娩 as miǎn.