剪 (jiǎn) · to cut with scissors, to trim, to clip

Meanings

1 to cut with scissors
2 to trim
3 to clip

Characters

剪

jiǎn

scissors; to cut with scissors

Examples

HSK 3

我需要剪头发了。

Wǒ xūyào jiǎn tóufa le.

I need to get a haircut.

HSK 3

帮我把这张纸剪一下。

Bāng wǒ bǎ zhè zhāng zhǐ jiǎn yíxià.

Help me cut this piece of paper.

HSK 5

他小心地剪开了那个包裹。

Tā xiǎoxīn de jiǎnkāi le nàge bāoguǒ.

He carefully cut open that parcel.

Tips

usage

剪头发 (jiǎn tóufa, to get a haircut), 剪纸 (jiǎnzhǐ, paper cutting - a traditional Chinese art), 剪彩 (jiǎncǎi, to cut the ribbon at an opening ceremony).

Components

radical

刀 dāo

knife

Bottom 刀 - the indexing radical, picturing a single-edged blade. Declares 剪 a cutting action with a blade: scissors are two blades joined. Same blade family: 切 (slice), 分 (divide), 刻 (carve), 删 (delete). Note the standalone 刀 form is used here rather than the side-radical 刂 because 刀 sits at the bottom of the character.

phonetic

前 qián

before; front (here phonetic)

Top 前 supplies the sound (qián → jiǎn through a palatalization in this phonetic series) and a faint semantic hook: cutting is what trims the front edge of something. The kept-whole 前 is itself a recognized standalone with its own meaning, so it stays as one unit rather than being split. Same phonetic family: 箭 (arrow).