HSK 5 · Verbs

拐弯 guǎiwān “to go round a curve” in Chinese

Traditional 拐彎

What 拐弯 means

  1. to go round a curve
  2. to turn a corner
  3. fig. a new direction

How to say 拐弯

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale拐guǎi3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale弯wān1st tone, high and level

拐弯 in a sentence

  1. 绿灯时，拐弯车要让人。

    Lǜdēng shí, guǎiwān chē yào ràng rén.

    When the light is green, turning cars must give way to pedestrians.

    Sentence #421254 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 往北拐弯走到第二条弄堂就是。

    Wǎng běi guǎiwān zǒu dào dì-èr tiáo lòngtáng jiù shì.

    Turn north and walk to the second lane – you’re there.

    Sentence #391120 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 拐弯 also appears in the idiom 拐弯抹角, “to talk in a roundabout way”

    不要拐弯抹角。

    Búyào guǎiwān mòjiǎo.

    Don’t beat around the bush.

    Sentence #834543 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 拐弯 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 拐 (guǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
拐guǎito turn
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 另another · lìng
The character 弯 (wān) with each of its parts in a different colour
弯wānto bend
  • 亦also · yì
  • 弓bow · gōng

How to write 拐弯

拐 8 strokes · 弯 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 拐弯

Words with 拐

拐杖guǎizhàng · walking stick

More words: Common Verbs

贡献gòngxiàn · to contribute构成gòuchéng · to constitute鼓舞gǔwǔ · to inspire固定gùdìng · to fix关闭guānbì · to close滚gǔn · to boil过期guòqī · to be overdue缓解huǎnjiě · to bring relief

FAQs

拐弯 (guǎiwān) means “to go round a curve” or “to turn a corner”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it guǎiwān: guǎi with a 3rd tone, then wān with a 1st 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, 拐弯 is written 拐彎. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guaiwan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 拐弯 from the suggestions. Typing guaiwan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
拐弯 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.