牵 (qiān): to lead (by the hand or rope);…

Meanings

1 to lead (by the hand or rope); to pull
2 to involve; to implicate
3 to worry about; to miss

Characters

牵

qian

to lead; to pull

Examples

妈妈牵着孩子的手。

Māma qiān zhe háizi de shǒu.

Mom is holding the child's hand.

他牵着一条狗在散步。

Tā qiān zhe yītiáo gǒu zài sànbù.

He's walking a dog on a leash.

这件事牵涉到很多人。

Zhè jiàn shì qiānshè dào hěnduō rén.

This matter involves many people.

出门在外，父母总是牵挂。

Chūménzàiwài, fùmǔ zǒngshì qiānguà.

When you're away from home, parents always worry.

Tips

usage

Key compounds: 牵手 (hold hands), 牵挂 (worry about someone far away), 牵涉 (to involve/implicate), 牵头 (to take the lead on a project).

culture

The traditional form 牽 has 牛 (cow) at the bottom — you lead a cow by pulling its rope.

Components

radical

牛 niú

ox; cow

Bottom 牛 — the indexing radical (Kangxi #93) and the animal being led. The whole character paints the prototype scene: a person holding a rope tied to an ox, walking it forward. Hence 牵 = to lead by rope, and by extension to involve, to worry about (your concern reaches out and pulls — 牵挂).

ideograph

大 dà

big (here graphic)

Top 大 — a graphic substitute. Traditional 牽 had 玄 (a coil of dark thread, the rope) on top; the 1956 reform swapped in the simpler 大. Treat as a visual placeholder rather than 'big' — the rope lives in the bar-stroke below, and the meaning is carried by the ox at the bottom.

semantic

冖 mì

cover; horizontal stroke

Middle 冖 — represents the leading rope or yoke laid across. In the traditional form this was the visual link between the rope (玄) above and the ox (牛) below. The horizontal stroke is the rope going from the handler's hand to the animal's nose ring.