灌

guàn
verb HSK 7-9 #5,182

Meanings

  1. 1 to pour; to irrigate
  2. 2 to fill; to force-feed

Examples

HSK 3
Bié gěi wǒ guàn jiǔ.
Don't force me to drink.
HSK 3
Tā wǎng píngzi lǐ guàn shuǐ.
He poured water into the bottle.
HSK 7-9
Nóngmín zài guàngài tiándì.
The farmers are irrigating the fields.

Tips

usage
灌 often implies pouring with force or filling a container. 灌酒 means to pressure someone into drinking. 灌水 online means to spam or post meaningless content.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (radical)
Three-drop water radical on the left - the side-stacking form of 水. Anchors 灌 in liquid-handling verbs: pouring, irrigating, force-feeding. The action is always volumetric: not a drip but a flood, a steady stream into something.
phonetic
雚 guàn
stork; heron
Right 雚 supplies the sound exactly - guàn → guàn, a perfect match. 雚 is a wading bird (heron/stork), and the same phonetic appears in a useful family: 罐 (jar), 鹳 (stork), 观 (view), 劝 (advise) - all share the rime.

Stroke Order

灌 guàn