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眷

juàn
noun #30,076

Meanings

  1. 1 family members (esp. wife and children)
  2. 2 dependents
  3. 3 to regard with affection

Examples

他携眷前往台湾定居。
Tā xié juàn qiánwǎng Táiwān dìngjū.
He moved to Taiwan with his family.
家眷都在老家等着他回来。
Jiā juàn dōu zài lǎojiā děng zhe tā huílai.
His family members were all waiting for him to return home.

Tips

usage
眷 is a literary/formal term. In everyday speech, 家人 or 家属 are more common. 眷属 and 家眷 are set phrases meaning one's wife and children or family.

Components

radical
目 mù
eye
Bottom eye radical — the indexing radical, a pictograph of an upright eye with the pupil shown as the horizontal lines inside. Anchors 眷 in the family of seeing/gaze chars: 看 look, 眼 eye, 睛 pupil, 瞧 gaze, 盼 look forward. Pairs with the rolling-hands above to picture an eye lingeringly turning back — the image behind 'attachment, fondness, family one cares for.'
phonetic
龹 juàn
rice-rolling hands (decorative top)
Top component — historically depicting two hands working rice grains, a fused remnant of the older 龹 graph that also tops 卷 (roll/scroll), 拳 (fist), 券 (ticket). Supplies the sound: juàn exactly. Across this family the cluster of hand-shaped strokes hints at gripping or rolling, but in 眷 it functions almost purely as a phonetic frame above the eye below.

Stroke Order

眷 juàn