筦 meaning and stroke order
Key; pipe; to be in charge
How to write 筦, 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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- 13
How 筦 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Bamboo.
⺮ gives the meaning and 完 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺮ (bamboo), shared by 149 characters on this site.
How to remember 筦
Bamboo ⺮ on top of 完 (wán), which gives the sound. Picture a hollow bamboo tube, a pipe, sitting over 完.
筦 is a rare variant of 管 (guǎn) and appears mostly in classical texts or old names. In modern Chinese you will almost always write 管 instead. For example, 筦理 (guǎnlǐ) is an old form of 管理 (guǎnlǐ), "to manage."
Common mistake: Learners sometimes mix up 筦 with 管 and think they are different words. They share the same sound and meanings, but 管 is the normal modern form. Also, do not read 筦 as wán just because it contains 完. The phonetic only hints at the sound, and the correct reading is guǎn.
Questions about 筦
How many strokes are in 筦?
筦 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 筦 mean?
筦 (guǎn) means key; pipe; to be in charge.
How do you pronounce 筦?
筦 is pronounced guǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 筦?
The radical of 筦 is ⺮, which carries the idea of "bamboo". Dictionaries list 筦 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 筦?
筦 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 管, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Should I use 筦 or 管 when writing modern Chinese?
Use 管. 筦 is an older variant that people today rarely use outside classical texts, calligraphy, or personal and place names.
Why does a character meaning "to be in charge" have a bamboo radical?
The bamboo part points to the meaning "pipe," since early pipes and tubes were made of bamboo. The senses "key" and "to be in charge" grew alongside that meaning, the same way they did for 管.