还 (huán) · to return (something); to give back

Meanings

1 to return (something); to give back
2 to pay back; to repay
3 to retaliate; to respond in kind

Characters

还

huán

to return (something); to give back

Examples

HSK 1

我明天还你书。

Wǒ míngtiān huán nǐ shū.

I'll return your book to you tomorrow.

HSK 5

以牙还牙，以眼还眼。

Yǐyá-huányá, yǐyǎn-huányǎn.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

HSK 6

他下个月要还贷款。

Tā xià ge yuè yào huán dàikuǎn.

He has to pay back the loan next month.

Tips

usage

As a verb 还 takes a concrete or abstract object that is being returned: 还书 (return a book), 还钱 (pay back money), 还债 (settle a debt), 还礼 (return a gift), 还击 (strike back). Common compounds: 归还, 偿还, and 退还.

memory

Mnemonic: the 辶 walking radical = motion. With hái (adverb) the motion keeps going - 'still'. With huán (verb) the motion comes back - 'return / give back'. Same character, two directions of travel.

Components

radical

辶 chuò

walk; movement (left-form)

Walking radical, the simplified left-and-bottom-wrapping form of 辵. It supplies the core meaning of the huán reading: motion that doubles back - to return, to go back, to send back. The same radical anchors the movement family: 进 (advance), 远 (far), 近 (near), 通 (pass through), and 道 (road).

phonetic

不 bù

not (here phonetic)

Inner 不 supplies the sound for simplified 还 - bù shifted to huán with significant phonetic drift. The simplified form replaced the much more complex traditional 還 (which had 睘 inside, the original phonetic) with just 不 to keep the character writable. The 'not' meaning of 不 is incidental - read here purely for its sound value.