Meaning of 劝
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to advise
- to urge
- to try to persuade
- to exhort
- to console
- to soothe
How to use 劝
劝 often means to talk someone into or out of something, and it is usually followed by a person and then an action: 劝 + someone + verb. It can also mean to comfort someone who is upset. Example: 我劝他早点睡觉。(Wǒ quàn tā zǎodiǎn shuìjiào.) I urged him to go to bed early.
劝 (quàn) has 力 (lì, strength) on the right. To persuade someone, you put effort and strength into your words. The left part 又 (yòu, again) can remind you that you urge a person again and again.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 劝 (quàn) with 权 (quán, power, right), which looks similar but has 木 on the left and uses the second tone. Also, 劝 by itself does not guarantee success. It means you tried to persuade, so use 劝服 (quànfú) or 说服 (shuōfú) when the person was actually convinced.
劝 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
劝 quàn · to advise · 4 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 劝.
Questions about 劝
What does 劝 mean?
劝 (quàn) means "to advise; to urge" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 劝?
劝 is made of 1 character: 劝 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 劝 an HSK word?
Yes. 劝 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 劝 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 劝 is written 勸.
How do I say 'he wouldn't listen to my advice' with 劝?
Use the pattern 劝不住 or 不听劝. For example, 我怎么劝他都不听。(Wǒ zěnme quàn tā dōu bù tīng.) No matter how I tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen.
How do I use 劝 to comfort someone?
In this sense 劝 often appears as 劝劝 or with a short follow-up phrase. For example, 她很难过，你去劝劝她。(Tā hěn nánguò, nǐ qù quànquan tā.) She is very sad, go and comfort her.