jiān
noun HSK 5 #5,671

Meanings

  1. 1 shoulder
  2. 2 to shoulder (responsibilities)

Examples

HSK 6
Wǒmen bìngjiānzuòzhàn.
We fought side by side.
HSK 7-9
Tā pāi le pāi wǒ de jiānbǎng.
He patted me on the shoulder.
HSK 7-9
Jiānshàng de dànzi hěn zhòng.
The burden on the shoulders is heavy.

Tips

usage
is often used in compounds: 肩膀 (jiānbǎng, shoulder), 并肩 (bìngjiān, side by side), 肩负 (jiānfù, to shoulder/bear a responsibility). The idiom 并肩作战 means 'to fight shoulder to shoulder.'

Components

radical
ròu
flesh; meat (body-form)
Bottom flesh radical, the body-part form of graphically identical to . It marks as a body part - the fleshy area connecting arm to torso. Combined with the door-shape above, the whole evokes the hinge of the body. The radical anchors a huge body-part family: (leg), (liver), (face), (belly), (plump).
semantic
door; household
Top is the door radical - a pictograph of a single-leaf door, half of the double-leaf . Here it functions ideographically: the angled, hinged shape mirrors the form of a shoulder joint, the body's own hinge between arm and torso. The whole character reads as a compound ideograph: a door-like joint covered with flesh.

Stroke Order

jiān