抟 (tuán): to roll into a ball with the ha…

Meanings

1 to roll into a ball with the hands
2 to knead together
3 (literary) to circle; to wheel upward

Characters

抟

tuán

to roll into a ball; to wheel up

Examples

孩子把泥抟成一个圆球。

Tuán

The child kneaded the mud into a round ball.

大鹏抟扶摇而上九万里。

Dàpéng tuán

The great roc rides the whirlwind and wheels up ninety thousand li.

Tips

history

The core sense of 抟 is to press something into a round mass with the hands. A famous literary use comes from 庄子, where the giant roc 抟 (wheels) upward on a whirlwind.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

扌 is the hand radical 手 in left-side form. Rolling and kneading something into a ball is done with the hands, so the hand radical carries the meaning.

phonetic

专 zhuān

special; to focus

专 supplies the sound, drifted from zhuān to tuán. It is the simplified phonetic element, standing for the fuller traditional right side of 摶.