绢 (juàn) · thin, tough silk fabric; silk

Meanings

1 thin, tough silk fabric; silk

Characters

绢

juàn

thin silk fabric

Examples

HSK 4

这幅画是画在绢上的。

Zhè fú huà shì huà zài juàn shàng de.

This painting was done on silk.

HSK 5

古代的书信有时写在绢上。

Gǔdài de shūxìn yǒushí xiě zài juàn shàng.

In ancient times, letters were sometimes written on silk.

Tips

culture

Silk painting (绢本画) is a major tradition in Chinese art. Many of the most famous classical paintings were done on silk rather than paper.

Components

radical

纟 sī

silk; thread

Left silk radical, the simplified 3-stroke form of 糸 (twisted silk filaments). Indexes 绢 in the silk-and-fabric family (绸 silk, 缎 satin, 绣 embroidery) and pins the word firmly to woven cloth - specifically a thin, tough plain-weave silk used historically for painting scrolls and royal letters.

phonetic

肙 yuān

small worm

Right 肙 - a tiny worm graph, here functioning purely as a phonetic frame supplying juàn through an older yuān / juān reading shift. Same phonetic appears in 涓 trickle, 鹃 cuckoo, 捐 to donate, 娟 graceful. Carries no worm-meaning into 绢.