廉 meaning and stroke order
Upright, honorable, honest
How to write 廉, stroke by stroke
13 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 廉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- incorruptible
- honest
- inexpensive
- to investigate (old)
- side wall of a traditional Chinese house (old)
- old variant of 廉[lian2]
How 廉 is built
Components of the character.
Radical: 广 (broad), shared by 60 characters on this site.
How to remember 廉
廉 is 广 (a building with a roof) over 兼 (jiān, holding two stalks of grain together). Picture an official inside his hall who holds only what he honestly earned, so he stays clean and his life stays inexpensive.
廉 appears mostly in compound words. It covers two main ideas, honesty in office as in 廉洁 (liánjié) and 廉政 (liánzhèng), and low price as in 廉价 (liánjià). Example: 这家店的东西很廉价。 (Zhè jiā diàn de dōngxi hěn liánjià.) The things in this shop are very cheap.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 廉 with 兼 (jiān, both, concurrently) or 嫌 (xián, to dislike). They share the 兼 part, but only 廉 has the 广 roof and is read lián. Also note that 廉正 and 廉政 sound identical but differ: 正 describes a person's integrity, while 政 refers to clean government.
Common words with 廉
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
廉 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 廉
Learning 廉 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 廉
How many strokes are in 廉?
廉 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 廉 mean?
廉 (lián) means upright, honorable, honest. A common word with it is 廉价 (liánjià), meaning "cheaply-priced; low-cost".
How do you pronounce 廉?
廉 is pronounced lián, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 廉?
The radical of 廉 is 广, which carries the idea of "broad". Dictionaries list 廉 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 廉?
The traditional form of 廉 is 㢘 and 亷. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 廉 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 廉 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 廉 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 廉价 the same as 便宜 (piányi)?
Both mean cheap, but 便宜 is the everyday spoken word. 廉价 is more formal or written, and it can sound slightly negative, suggesting low quality, as in 廉价商品 (cheap goods).
What does 廉 mean in 清廉 and 廉耻?
In 清廉 (qīnglián) it means clean and incorruptible, often describing officials. In 廉耻 (liánchǐ) it means integrity paired with a sense of shame, and 不知廉耻 means having no sense of shame.