HSK 4 · Verbs

困 kùn “to trap” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 困 means

  1. to trap
  2. to surround
  3. hard-pressed
  4. stranded
  5. destitute

How to say 困

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale困kùn4th tone, falling

困 in a sentence

  1. 他被困在教室里了。

    Tā bèi kùn zài jiàoshì lǐ le.

    He’s trapped in the classroom.

    Sentence #13573500 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我被工作困住了。

    Wǒ bèi gōngzuò kùnzhù le.

    I’m bogged down with work.

    Sentence #6568300 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 困 can also mean “sleepy”

    我非常困。

    Wǒ fēicháng kùn.

    I’m very sleepy.

    Sentence #8968587 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 困 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 困 (kùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
困kùnto trap
  • 囗enclosure · wéi
  • 木tree · mù

How to write 困

困 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

困 (kùn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 困 (kùn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 困

Words with 困

困难kùnnan · difficult贫困pínkùn · poor

More words: Common Verbs

举jǔ · to lift举办jǔbàn · to conduct开玩笑kāiwánxiào · to play a joke肯定kěndìng · to be certain拉lā · to pull来不及láibují · not enough time (to do something)来得及láidejí · to have enough time来自láizì · to come from (a place)

FAQs

困 (kùn) means “to trap” or “to surround”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it kùn: kùn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 困 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kun with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 困 from the suggestions. Typing kun into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
困 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.