鉛 meaning and stroke order
Lead
How to write 鉛, 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
Meaning of 鉛
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- lead (chemistry)
- used in 鉛山|铅山[Yan2 shan1] (the name of a place in Jiangxi)
How 鉛 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Metal.
釒 gives the meaning and 几 hints at the sound.
Radical: 釒 (gold), shared by 135 characters on this site.
How to remember 鉛
The left side 釒 means metal, and the right side 几 over 口 gives the sound. Picture a heavy metal block sitting on a small table 几 above an open mouth 口, a reminder that lead is a dense metal you should never put in your mouth.
鉛 (qiān) is the traditional form. In mainland simplified Chinese it is written 铅. It names the metal lead, and it shows up most often in the everyday word 铅笔 (qiānbǐ), pencil. Example: 我借你一支铅笔。(Wǒ jiè nǐ yì zhī qiānbǐ.) I'll lend you a pencil.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse the right side with 台 or write 几 as 儿. The top part is 几, with a hooked final stroke, sitting directly over 口. Also keep the first tone: qiān, not qián.
Common words with 鉛
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 鉛筆 | qiānbǐ | (lead) pencil | HSK 6 |
Questions about 鉛
How many strokes are in 鉛?
鉛 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 鉛 mean?
鉛 (qiān) means lead. A common word with it is 铅笔 (qiānbǐ), meaning "(lead) pencil".
How do you pronounce 鉛?
鉛 is pronounced qiān, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 鉛?
The radical of 鉛 is 釒, which carries the idea of "gold". Dictionaries list 鉛 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 鉛?
鉛 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 铅, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is it read yán in some cases?
The reading yán is only used in the place name 鉛山 (Yánshān), a county in Jiangxi province. Everywhere else, including 铅笔, it is read qiān.
Does a pencil really contain lead?
No. Modern pencils use graphite, but the name 铅笔 (qiānbǐ) kept the word for lead, just like the English phrase pencil lead. The metal itself is called 铅 (qiān), as in 铅中毒 (qiān zhòngdú), lead poisoning.