帘 meaning and stroke order
The flag-sign of a tavern
How to write 帘, stroke by stroke
8 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
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- 4
- 5
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- 8
Meaning of 帘
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- hanging screen or curtain
- flag used as a shop sign
- variant of 簾|帘[lian2]
How 帘 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A curtain 巾 at the entrance to a cave 穴.
Radical: 巾 (cloth), shared by 53 characters on this site.
How to remember 帘
Picture a cloth 巾 (jīn) hanging over the entrance of a cave 穴 (xué). A piece of cloth covering an opening is a curtain, 帘 (lián).
Today 帘 mostly means a curtain or hanging screen, and it usually appears in words like 窗帘 (chuānglián) and 帘子 (liánzi) rather than alone. The older sense of a cloth flag hung outside a tavern as a shop sign shows up mainly in classical poems and historical stories. Example: 请把窗帘拉上。(Qǐng bǎ chuānglián lā shàng.) Please close the curtains.
Common mistake: Learners often write the top as 宀 (the roof radical) and forget the two short strokes of 八 under it that make 穴. Also keep the second tone: 帘 (lián) is easy to mix up with 脸 (liǎn, face) or 练 (liàn, practice).
Common words with 帘
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
帘 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 帘
How many strokes are in 帘?
帘 is written with 8 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 帘 mean?
帘 (lián) means the flag-sign of a tavern. A common word with it is 窗帘 (chuānglián), meaning "window curtains".
How do you pronounce 帘?
帘 is pronounced lián, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 帘?
The radical of 帘 is 巾, which carries the idea of "cloth". Dictionaries list 帘 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 帘?
The traditional form of 帘 is 簾. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 帘 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 帘 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 帘 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What verbs go with 窗帘 to open or close curtains?
Use 拉开 (lākāi) to open curtains and 拉上 (lāshàng) to close them, as in 拉开窗帘 (lākāi chuānglián). You can also say 拉窗帘 (lā chuānglián) for either action and let the context decide.
What other words use 帘 besides 窗帘?
Common ones include 门帘 (ménlián), a curtain hung in a doorway, and 竹帘 (zhúlián), a bamboo blind. 眼帘 (yǎnlián) is a literary word meaning the eyes or field of view, as in 映入眼帘 (yìngrù yǎnlián), to come into view.