HSK 6 · Verbs

盘旋 pánxuán “to circle” in Chinese

Traditional 盤旋

What 盘旋 means

  1. to circle
  2. to spiral
  3. to hover
  4. to go around
  5. to orbit

How to say 盘旋

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale盘pán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale旋xuán2nd tone, rising

盘旋 in a sentence

  1. 一团尘土与瓦砾腾空而起，在空中盘旋了数分钟。

    Yì tuán chéntǔ yǔ wǎlì téngkōng ér qǐ, zài kōngzhōng pánxuán le shù fēnzhōng.

    A cloud of dust and rubble rose into the air and swirled there for several minutes.

    Sentence #13920544 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 盘旋 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 盘 (pán) with each of its parts in a different colour
盘pántray; plate; dish
  • 舟boat · zhōu
  • 皿dish · mǐnMeaning part

皿 hints at the meaning (dish); 般 (bān) hints at the sound. Compare it with pán.

The character 旋 (xuán) drawn as one shape
旋xuánto revolve

旋 is a single shape of 11 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 盘旋

盘 11 strokes · 旋 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 盘旋

Words with 盘

盘子pánzi · plate键盘jiànpán · keyboard光盘guāngpán · compact disc (CD)

Words with 旋

旋转xuánzhuǎn · to rotate旋律xuánlǜ · melody

More words: Common Verbs

趴pā · to lie face down排斥páichì · to exclude排除páichú · to rule out徘徊páihuái · to pace back and forth抛弃pāoqì · to abandon配备pèibèi · to equip培育péiyù · to cultivate捧pěng · to hold with both hands

FAQs

盘旋 (pánxuán) means “to circle” or “to spiral”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it pánxuán: pán with a 2nd tone, then xuán with a 2nd 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, 盘旋 is written 盤旋. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type panxuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 盘旋 from the suggestions. Typing panxuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
盘旋 is an HSK 6 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.