圜 (huán): to encircle

Meanings

1 to encircle
2 to surround
3 circle

Characters

圜

huán

to encircle / round

Examples

群山圜抱，景色绝佳。

Qúnshān huán bào, jǐngsè jué jiā.

The mountains encircle the place, and the scenery is superb.

古人云：天圜地方。

Gǔrén yún: tiān huán dìfāng.

The ancients said: 'Heaven is round and earth is square.'

Tips

usage

圜 has two readings: huán (encircle, surround - literary, mostly in classical or set phrases like 圜抱) and yuán (round, the older form of 圆 yuán). In modern Chinese the everyday 'round / circle' meaning is written 圆, leaving 圜 mainly for classical citations and the cosmological cliché 天圜地方 'heaven round, earth square'.

memory

The character is 囗 (enclosure radical) wrapped around 睘 - visually a thing 'encircled', which matches the meaning.

Components

radical

囗 wéi

enclosure; border

Outer enclosure radical - the big square wrapper drawn as the opening two strokes and closed by the final stroke. Indexes 圜 as a bordered space and carries the meaning: a ring, a circle, the act of encircling. Same family: 国 country, 园 garden, 困 trapped, 围 surround.

phonetic

睘 qióng

to stare; alarmed look

Inside 睘 supplies the sound - qióng drifting to huán along the well-attested sound layer shared with 还 to return, 环 ring, 寰 vast domain. The 'staring eye' meaning is not active here; 睘 functions as a pure phonetic, with the outer 囗 carrying the 'enclose' semantics.