运 (yùn): to move; to transport; to ship

Meanings

1 to move; to transport; to ship
2 luck; fortune; fate
3 to use; to apply

Characters

运

yùn

to transport; luck; fortune

Examples

HSK 2

运动对身体有好处。

Yùndòng duì shēntǐ yǒu hǎochu.

Exercise is good for your health.

HSK 3

祝你好运！

Zhù nǐ hǎoyùn!

Good luck!

HSK 7-9

这些货物要运到上海。

Zhèxiē huòwù yào yùn dào Shànghǎi.

These goods need to be shipped to Shanghai.

Tips

usage

运 is used in: 运动 (exercise/sports/movement), 运气 (luck), 运输 (transport), 命运 (fate/destiny), 幸运 (lucky). 运气 and 幸运 are everyday words.

Components

radical

辶 chuò

walk; movement (radical)

Wrapping walk radical (Kangxi #162 辵 in its 3-stroke compressed form) - depicts a foot stepping forward at the bottom of a road. Anchors all transport and motion meanings of 运 (transport, luck-as-fortune-flowing, movement). Same radical groups 进, 退, 道, 远, 边.

phonetic

云 yún

cloud

Inner phonetic 云 (yún) - supplies the sound, shifting to yùn. Originally 运 was 軍 (army) inside 辶 (movement), meaning to move troops; the simplified form replaced 軍 with 云 (its phonetic match) to reduce strokes. The cloud imagery is incidental - a nice bonus of moving things along like drifting clouds.