jiǎn
verb #2,626

Meanings

  1. 1 to check; to examine; to inspect

Examples

Nǐ yīnggāi qù yīyuàn jiǎnchá yīxià.
You should go to the hospital for a checkup.
Qǐng jiǎnchá nǐ de zuòyè.
Please check your homework.

Tips

usage
is mainly used in compounds: 检查 (jiǎnchá, to check/examine), 检验 (jiǎnyàn, to test/verify), 检讨 (jiǎntǎo, self-criticism), 体检 (tǐjiǎn, physical exam).

Components

radical
wood; tree
Left is the indexing tree/wood radical — a tree in profile with trunk, branches, and roots. Anchors because the original sense was 'to seal a wooden document tablet': bamboo slips bound and tagged with a sealing strip. From sealing came 'check, examine, inspect'. Same radical family: forest, pine, tree.
phonetic
qiān
all; together (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound — qiān drifting to jiǎn through palatalization, the same shift seen in xiǎn dangerous, jiàn sword, jiǎn check, yàn test. The whole -phonetic family clusters around the qiān/jiǎn/yàn rhymes. itself was 'all together' in classical use; here the meaning is irrelevant, only the sound.

Stroke Order

jiǎn