挛 meaning and stroke order
Tangled, entwined; crooked
How to write 挛, 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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- 10
Meaning of 挛
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) (of muscles) to cramp; to spasm
How 挛 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Hand.
手 gives the meaning.
Radical: 手 (hand), shared by 23 characters on this site.
How to remember 挛
挛 has 亦 on top and 手 (shǒu, hand) below. Picture a hand whose fingers curl up and lock together, which is what a cramp feels like.
挛 is a bound form and almost never appears alone. You will mostly see it in 痉挛 (jìngluán), which describes muscles cramping or spasming, often in medical or physical contexts. Example: 我的腿抽筋了，肌肉痉挛。(Wǒ de tuǐ chōujīn le, jīròu jìngluán.) My leg has a cramp, the muscle is spasming.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 挛 with 峦 (luán, mountain range) and 恋 (liàn, love), which share the same top. Check the bottom: 挛 has 手 for hand, 峦 has 山 for mountain, and 恋 has 心 for heart.
Common words with 挛
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 痉挛 | jìngluán | to jerk; to contort |
Questions about 挛
How many strokes are in 挛?
挛 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 挛 mean?
挛 (luán) means tangled, entwined; crooked. A common word with it is 痉挛 (jìngluán), meaning "to jerk; to contort".
How do you pronounce 挛?
挛 is pronounced luán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 挛?
The radical of 挛 is 手, which carries the idea of "hand". Dictionaries list 挛 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 挛?
The traditional form of 挛 is 攣. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 挛 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 痉挛 and 抽筋?
Both describe muscle cramps. 抽筋 (chōujīn) is the everyday spoken word, while 痉挛 (jìngluán) sounds more formal or medical and can also describe spasms in organs, such as 胃痉挛 (wèi jìngluán, stomach cramps).
Can 挛 be used by itself in a sentence?
Not in modern Chinese. It is a bound form, so it appears inside words like 痉挛 or 拘挛 (jūluán, cramped, contracted) rather than standing alone.