chán / càn
adjective #52,298

Meanings

  1. 1 weak; feeble; frail
  2. 2 timid; cowardly

Examples

HSK 4
Tā chánruò duōbìng de shēntǐ shòu bu liǎo zhònghuó.
His frail, sickly body could not bear hard labor.
HSK 7-9
Tāmen de fángxiàn chánruò, méiyǒu yí zuò jiāngù de bǎolěi.
Their defenses were weak, with not a single strong fort.

Tips

usage
In this reading is a bound literary morpheme, mostly in 孱弱 ('frail, feeble'), of a body, a state, or a defense. A separate reading appears in the dialect word 孱头.

Components

radical
shī
body; shelter
The outer (a leaning-body / shelter shape) wraps the character; it suggests a cramped, narrow space, the original 'cramped to frail' sense.
semantic
zhuǎn
three children; weak
Inside sit three stacked ('child') as the element ; small children crowded in a tight shelter convey weakness and frailty.

Stroke Order

chán