棍 meaning and stroke order
Stick; rod; truncheon; scoundrel; villain
How to write 棍, stroke by stroke
12 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
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- 9
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- 11
- 12
Meaning of 棍
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- stick; rod; truncheon
- scoundrel; villain
How 棍 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Wood.
木 gives the meaning and 昆 hints at the sound.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 棍
棍 is pictophonetic: 木 (wood) on the left gives the meaning, and 昆 (kūn) on the right hints at the sound. Picture a long piece of wood, a stick you could swing.
On its own 棍 is rare in speech; people usually say 棍子 (gùnzi) for a stick or rod. It also appears in words for bad people, like 恶棍 (ègùn, villain). Example: 夏天我喜欢吃冰棍儿。(Xiàtiān wǒ xǐhuan chī bīnggùnr.) I like eating popsicles in summer.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 棍 (gùn) with 混 (hùn, to mix), which has the same 昆 part but the water radical 氵 instead of 木. Also keep the fourth tone in gùn, not the first tone of 昆 (kūn).
Common words with 棍
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 棍子 | gùnzi | stick; rod | HSK 7-9 |
| 冰棍儿 | bīnggùnr | ice lolly; popsicle | HSK 7-9 |
| 恶棍 | ègùn | scoundrel; rogue; bully; villain | |
| 曲棍球 | qūgùnqiú | field hockey | |
| 木棍 | mùgùn | wooden stick | |
| 警棍 | jǐnggùn | police truncheon | |
| 撬棍 | qiàogùn | crowbar | |
| 光棍 | guānggùn | gangster; hoodlum; bachelor; single man | |
| 冰棍 | bīnggùn | popsicle; ice lolly | |
| 棍棒 | gùnbàng | club; staff; stick |
棍 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 棍
How many strokes are in 棍?
棍 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 棍 mean?
棍 (gùn) means stick; rod; truncheon; scoundrel; villain. A common word with it is 棍子 (gùnzi), meaning "stick; rod".
How do you pronounce 棍?
棍 is pronounced gùn, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 棍?
The radical of 棍 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 棍 under this radical.
Is 棍 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 棍 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 光棍 mean a single man?
光棍 (guānggùn) literally suggests a bare stick with nothing attached, so it came to mean a bachelor. It can also mean a hoodlum, but today the bachelor meaning is most common, as in 光棍节 (Guānggùn Jié), Singles' Day on November 11.
What measure word is used with 棍子?
Use 根 (gēn) for long thin objects, so you say 一根棍子 (yì gēn gùnzi), one stick.