腕 meaning and stroke order
Wrist
How to write 腕, 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.
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Meaning of 腕
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- wrist
- (squid, starfish etc) arm
How 腕 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Flesh.
⺼ gives the meaning and 宛 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 腕
The flesh radical ⺼ on the left tells you this is a body part, and 宛 (wǎn) on the right gives the sound. Picture the bendy flesh joint that sounds like wǎn: your wrist, 腕 (wàn).
腕 usually appears in compounds rather than alone, most often 手腕 (shǒuwàn), which means wrist but also skill or scheming tactics. It also names the arms of squid or starfish. Example: 他的手腕受伤了。(Tā de shǒuwàn shòushāng le.) He hurt his wrist.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 腕 (wàn) with 碗 (wǎn, bowl) and 婉 (wǎn, gentle), which share the same 宛 part. Check the left side: flesh ⺼ for the body, stone 石 for a bowl, woman 女 for gentle. Note that 腕 is fourth tone while the other two are third tone.
Common words with 腕
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
腕 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 腕
How many strokes are in 腕?
腕 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 腕 mean?
腕 (wàn) means wrist. A common word with it is 手腕 (shǒuwàn), meaning "wrist; trickery".
How do you pronounce 腕?
腕 is pronounced wàn, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 腕?
The radical of 腕 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 腕 under this radical.
Is 腕 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 腕 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 大腕 or 大腕儿 mean?
大腕 (dàwàn), often said as 大腕儿 (dàwànr), is an informal word for a big name or celebrity, especially in entertainment. It describes someone with a lot of influence in their field.
Does 手腕 always mean wrist?
No. Besides the literal wrist, 手腕 can mean tactics or a clever, sometimes tricky, way of handling things, as in 政治手腕 (zhèngzhì shǒuwàn), political skill. Context tells you which meaning is intended.