wǎn
adverb #47,554

Meanings

  1. 1 as if; just like
  2. 2 winding; tortuous

Examples

Gūniang de shēngyīn wǎnrú huángyīng de gēshēng.
The girl's voice is as sweet as an oriole's song.
Cóng kōngzhōng kàn, héliú wǎn rú yì tiáo sīdài.
Seen from the air, the river winds like a ribbon.
Jǐngxiàng shēngdòng, wǎn rán zài mù qián.
The scene is vivid, as if it were right before your eyes.

Tips

usage
Everyday use is the literary 'as if' word 宛如 and . Note two other readings: as a surname it is Wǎn, and in the ancient Central Asian state name 大宛 (Ferghana) it is read Yuān.

Components

radical
mián
roof
The roof radical on top originally pictured grass bending and curling under a roof; this gave the early meaning 'to bend, wind around', which survives in the 'tortuous' sense.
phonetic
yuàn
to turn over while lying down
Sits under the roof and supplies the sound: shifted to wǎn. Its sense of a curled, turning body reinforces the 'winding' meaning.

Stroke Order

wǎn