Meaning of 泉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- spring (small stream)
- mouth of a spring
- coin (archaic)
How to use 泉
泉 usually appears inside compound words rather than alone, as in 温泉 (wēnquán, hot spring), 喷泉 (pēnquán, fountain) and 矿泉水 (kuàngquánshuǐ, mineral water). Example: 我想去日本泡温泉。(Wǒ xiǎng qù Rìběn pào wēnquán.) I want to go to Japan and soak in a hot spring.
泉 (quán) is 白 (bái, white) sitting on top of 水 (shuǐ, water). Picture clear white water bubbling up out of the ground, and you have a spring.
Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom as 氵, the three-dot water radical, but in 泉 the full 水 sits underneath 白. Some also confuse 泉 (quán) with 全 (quán, whole) because they sound identical, so check the meaning when typing pinyin.
泉 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.
泉 quán · spring · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 泉.
Questions about 泉
What does 泉 mean?
泉 (quán) means "spring (small stream); mouth of a spring" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 泉?
泉 is made of 1 character: 泉 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 泉 an HSK word?
Yes. 泉 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What verb goes with 温泉 when you talk about bathing in a hot spring?
The usual verb is 泡 (pào, to soak), as in 泡温泉 (pào wēnquán). Saying 洗温泉 sounds unnatural to native speakers.
How is 源泉 different from 泉水?
泉水 (quánshuǐ) is the literal water from a spring. 源泉 (yuánquán) is mostly figurative and means a source, as in 知识是力量的源泉 (zhīshi shì lìliang de yuánquán), knowledge is the source of strength.