轮 (lún): wheel

Meanings

1 wheel
2 round; turn (measure word for rounds)
3 steamship

Characters

轮

lún

wheel; turn; round

Examples

这辆车有四个轮。

Zhè liàng chē yǒu sì ge lún.

This car has four wheels.

该轮到你了。

Gāi lúndào nǐ le.

It's your turn now.

第一轮面试已经结束了。

Dìyī lún miànshì yǐjīng jiéshù le.

The first round of interviews is already over.

Tips

usage

轮 is very versatile: as a noun it means 'wheel', as a measure word it means 'round' (一轮比赛, one round of competition), and as a verb 轮到 means 'it's someone's turn'.

grammar

轮到 is a very useful pattern: 轮到我了 (it's my turn), 轮到你了 (it's your turn). 轮流 means 'to take turns'.

Components

radical

车 chē

cart; vehicle

Left cart radical, simplified from 車 — a stylised overhead view of a chariot with axle and wheels. It supplies the meaning: 轮 is the wheel itself, the round component that makes a vehicle move. The radical anchors a transport family: 轨 (rails), 转 (turn/spin), 软 (soft, originally a wheel detail), 辆 (measure word for vehicles).

phonetic

仑 lún

in order; logical sequence

Right 仑 supplies the sound — exact match lún with no drift. 仑 itself originally pictured documents arranged in order under a cover (now greatly simplified); that orderliness lends a faint echo to 轮: a wheel turns in regular sequence, spoke by spoke. Same phonetic family: 论 (discuss), 伦 (ethics/order), 沦 (sink), 仑.