huàn
verb HSK 2 #512

Meanings

  1. 1 to change
  2. 2 to exchange

Examples

Wǒ xiǎng huàn yí jiàn yīfu.
I want to change my clothes.
Kěyǐ huàn gè zuòwèi ma?
Can I change seats?
Wǒ xūyào huànqián.
I need to exchange money.

Tips

usage
means replacing one thing with another: 换衣服, 换工作, 换钱.
grammar
换成 means change into: 美元换成人民币 (change dollars into RMB).

Components

radical
shǒu
hand (left-side form)
Left hand radical — the contracted form of . Carries the meaning core: exchanging or swapping is a manual act, you take one thing and put down another. Anchors in the hand-action family alongside (take), (grab), (grasp), fits in the same row as , , — physical handling verbs.
phonetic
huàn
splendid; abundant
Right component supplies the sound: huàn → huàn (exact match, just bare-tone identity). originally depicted a flow or transfer from above, fitting the swap-and-flow sense of exchanging. Same phonetic in (shining), (paralysis), (dispersed) — a tight huàn-family.

Stroke Order

huàn