孪 (luán): twin; born as twins

Meanings

1 twin; born as twins

Characters

孪

luán

twin; born as twins

Examples

HSK 4

这两姐妹是孪生，几乎分不出来。

Zhè liǎng jiěmèi shì luánshēng, jīhū fēn bù chūlái.

The two sisters are twins, almost impossible to tell apart.

HSK 4

他们是孪生兄弟，长得很像。

Tāmen shì luánshēng xiōngdì, zhǎng de hěn xiàng.

They are twin brothers and look very much alike.

Tips

usage

Almost always in 孪生 ('twin-born'), as in 孪生兄弟 ('twin brothers'). The everyday spoken word for twins is 双胞胎; 孪 is the more formal, written equivalent.

Components

radical

子 zǐ

child

The child radical 子 at the bottom is the meaning anchor: this is a word about children - specifically two born together at one birth.

phonetic

亦 yì

also; too

The top element supplies the sound. Standalone 亦 reads yì; here it is part of the phonetic that gives the luán reading, carrying no meaning to the twins.

Stroke Order

孪 luán

Related Words

孪生 luánshēng HSK 7-9 #15,557

twin / twin-born

生于 shēngyú #9,823

born in; born at / to be born in (a place or time)

天生 tiānshēng HSK 7-9 #2,941

innate / natural-born / born with

双胞胎 shuāngbāotāi HSK 7-9 #3,968

twins

诞生 dànshēng HSK 6 #5,341

to be born; to come into being / birth; emergence

双立人 shuānglìrén #75,640

Zwilling J.A. Henckels (German knife brand) / "twin men" (brand name; literal rendering of the Zwilling logo)

属 shǔ HSK 3 #5,845

to belong to; to be classified as / to be born in the year of (Chinese zodiac) / genus; category; class (taxonomy) / family members; dependents

出生 chūshēng HSK 2 #1,555

to be born

生 shēng HSK 2 #572

to be born; to give birth / raw; uncooked / student; life

生来 shēnglái #6,140

born (to be) / innately / by nature