扂 meaning and stroke order
Door latch
How to write 扂, 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
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Meaning of 扂
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) door latch
How 扂 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Door.
户 gives the meaning and 占 hints at the sound.
Radical: 户 (door), shared by 15 characters on this site.
How to remember 扂
The door 户 (hù) on top tells you the meaning, and 占 (zhàn) underneath gives the sound. Picture a latch that occupies 占 its spot on the door 户 to keep it shut.
扂 (diàn) is a literary word for a door latch or bolt. You will mostly meet it in classical texts or dictionaries, not in daily speech, where people say 门闩 (ménshuān). Example: 闭户下扂 (bì hù xià diàn), close the door and drop the latch.
Common mistake: Learners often read 扂 as zhàn because of the phonetic 占, but it is pronounced diàn with a falling tone, like 店 (diàn). It is also easy to confuse with 店 (diàn, shop), which has 广 on top instead of 户.
Questions about 扂
How many strokes are in 扂?
扂 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 扂 mean?
扂 (diàn) means door latch.
How do you pronounce 扂?
扂 is pronounced diàn, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 扂?
The radical of 扂 is 户, which carries the idea of "door". Dictionaries list 扂 under this radical.
What word do modern speakers use instead of 扂 for a door latch?
In everyday Mandarin people say 门闩 (ménshuān) for a door bolt, or 插销 (chāxiāo) for a small sliding latch. 扂 is kept mainly in literary and classical writing.
Why does 扂 sound like 店 and 点 even though it contains 占?
The component 占 serves as a sound hint in many characters, and several of them, like 店 (diàn) and 点 (diǎn), are read with dian. So 扂 follows that dian pattern rather than the zhàn reading of 占 itself.