圆 (yuán): round; circular

Meanings

1 round; circular
2 circle; spherical
3 satisfactory; complete

Characters

圆

yuán

round; circle; complete

囗 (enclosure) + 员 (member) - completeness within a boundary

Examples

HSK 2

月亮是圆的。

Yuèliang shì yuán de.

The moon is round.

HSK 2

画一个圆。

Huà yīgè yuán.

Draw a circle.

HSK 5

中秋节的月亮特别圆。

Zhōngqiūjié de yuèliang tèbié yuán.

The moon is especially round during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Tips

culture

In Chinese culture, 圆 (round) symbolizes completeness and family reunion. The Mid-Autumn Festival's round moon represents family togetherness. Round tables and round dumplings (汤圆) carry the same symbolism.

Components

radical

囗 wéi

enclosure; surround

Outer enclosure (wéi) - the indexing radical. The square frame is the visual seed of 'round, complete shape': a closed boundary. The same wrapper anchors 国 (country), 园 (garden), 圈 (ring). MMaH places it as a discontinuous wrap (strokes 0, 1, and the closing bottom 9) around the inner phonetic.

phonetic

员 yuán

member; round (archaic)

Inner 员 supplies the sound yuán exactly. 员 itself originally pictured a round ding-tripod top, so it doubles as a faint semantic hint - round shape inside a round boundary. Phonetic family: 员圆, with related velars in 损 sǔn.