旬 meaning and stroke order
Ten-day period; period of time
How to write 旬, stroke by stroke
6 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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Meaning of 旬
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) ten-day period; one of the three ten-day divisions of a month (e.g. 上旬[shang4 xun2])
- (bound form) ten years (in age expressions, e.g. 六旬[liu4 xun2] "sixty years old")
How 旬 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A cycle 勹 of ten days 日; a traditional week.
Radical: 日 (sun), shared by 116 characters on this site.
How to remember 旬
The wrapping shape 勹 curls around 日 (rì, sun or day), like a loop that holds a cycle of days. Picture ten suns wrapped together into one bundle, and you have 旬 (xún), a ten-day period.
旬 is a bound form, so it appears inside words rather than alone. It is most common in 上旬 (shàngxún), 中旬 (zhōngxún) and 下旬 (xiàxún), which split a month into three parts. Example: 我们五月下旬出发。(Wǒmen wǔ yuè xiàxún chūfā.) We leave in the last third of May.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 旬 with 句 (jù, sentence), which has 口 inside instead of 日. Count the inner part: 旬 has the four-stroke 日 with a middle line.
Common words with 旬
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
旬 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 旬
Learning 旬 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 旬
How many strokes are in 旬?
旬 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 旬 mean?
旬 (xún) means ten-day period; period of time. A common word with it is 中旬 (zhōngxún), meaning "middle third of a month".
How do you pronounce 旬?
旬 is pronounced xún, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 旬?
The radical of 旬 is 日, which carries the idea of "sun". Dictionaries list 旬 under this radical.
Is 旬 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 旬 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you use 旬 to talk about someone's age?
A number plus 旬 means that many decades, so 六旬 (liù xún) means sixty years old. It sounds formal and respectful, and it is usually used for older people, as in 年过七旬 (nián guò qī xún), over seventy.
Does 上旬 mean exactly days 1 to 10?
Yes. 上旬 covers the 1st to the 10th and 中旬 covers the 11th to the 20th. 下旬 runs from the 21st to the end of the month, so it may be 8 to 11 days long.