拳 (quán) · fist

Meanings

1 fist
2 boxing; martial arts style

Characters

拳

quán

fist; boxing

Examples

HSK 5

他握紧了拳。

Tā wòjǐn le quán.

He clenched his fist.

HSK 7-9

太极拳是中国传统武术。

Tàijíquán shì Zhōngguó chuántǒng wǔshù.

Tai chi is a traditional Chinese martial art.

Tips

usage

拳 appears in many martial arts names: 太极拳 (tai chi), 咏春拳 (Wing Chun), 少林拳 (Shaolin boxing). As a standalone noun it means 'fist,' but in compounds it usually refers to a style of martial art.

Components

radical

手 shǒu

hand

Hand radical at the bottom - the indexing radical. Used in full 手 form rather than 扌 because it sits below, not on the left. Anchors 拳 as the hand in a specific configuration (closed into a fist), and by extension the boxing/martial-arts senses (太极拳, 拳击).

phonetic

龹 juàn

rolled-up shape (here phonetic)

Top portion (also seen in 卷, 圈, 倦) supplies the sound: juàn → quán with regular palatal shift. Faintly semantic too - a fist is a 'rolled up' hand, fingers gathered inward like a scroll. The phonetic family centers on the curling/wrapping sense.