还 (huán): to return (something); to give…

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

我明天还你书。

Wǒ míngtiān huán nǐ shū.

I'll return your book to you tomorrow.

他下个月要还贷款。

Tā xià ge yuè yào huán dàikuǎn.

He has to pay back the loan next month.

以牙还牙，以眼还眼。

Yǐyá-huányá, yǐyǎn-huányǎn.

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

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.