HSK 5 · Adjectives

浅 qiǎn “shallow” in Chinese

Traditional 淺

What 浅 means

  1. shallow
  2. light (of colour)
  3. easy
  4. light (colour)

How to say 浅

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale浅qiǎn3rd tone, dipping

浅 in a sentence

  1. 这条河浅吗？

    Zhè tiáo hé qiǎn ma?

    Is this river shallow?

    Sentence #10484060 from Tatoeba

  2. 他喜欢比较浅的绿色。

    Tā xǐhuan bǐjiào qiǎn de lǜsè.

    He likes lighter shades of green.

    Sentence #922859 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我睡觉很浅，容易醒。

    Wǒ shuìjiào hěn qiǎn, róngyì xǐng.

    I’m a light sleeper; I wake up easily.

    Sentence #1877278 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 浅 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 浅 (qiǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
浅qiǎnshallow
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 戋small · jiānSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 戋 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiǎn.

How to write 浅

浅 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 浅

More words: Adjectives

平等píngděng · equal平静píngjìng · calm迫切pòqiè · urgent谦虚qiānxū · modest强烈qiángliè · strong巧妙qiǎomiào · ingenious亲爱qīn'ài · dear亲切qīnqiè · amiable

FAQs

浅 (qiǎn) means “shallow” or “light (of colour)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it qiǎn: qiǎn with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 浅 is written 淺. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 浅 from the suggestions. Typing qian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
浅 is an HSK 5 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.