HSK 3 · Common Objects

碗 wǎn “bowl” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 碗 means

  1. bowl
  2. cup

Measure word 只 zhī or 个 gè · 一只碗 yì zhī wǎn

How to say 碗

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale碗wǎn3rd tone, dipping

碗 in a sentence

  1. 我们有几个碗？

    Wǒmen yǒu jǐ ge wǎn?

    How many bowls do we have?

    Sentence #1490482 from Tatoeba

  2. 我要麻婆豆腐，还有两碗米饭。

    Wǒ yào mápó dòufu, hái yǒu liǎng wǎn mǐfàn.

    I’d like mapo tofu and two bowls of rice.

    Sentence #1176034 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 帮我洗碗好吗？

    Bāng wǒ xǐ wǎn hǎo ma?

    Could you help me wash the dishes?

    Sentence #1899834 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 碗 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 碗 (wǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
碗wǎnbowl
  • 石stone · shíMeaning part
  • 宛to seem · wǎnSound part

石 hints at the meaning (stone); 宛 (wǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with wǎn.

How to write 碗

碗 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 碗

More words: Everyday Things

声音shēngyīn · sound双shuāng · two水平shuǐpíng · level条tiáo · strip万wàn · ten thousand位wèi · position习惯xíguàn · habit信用卡xìnyòngkǎ · credit card

FAQs

碗 (wǎn) means “bowl” or “cup”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it wǎn: wǎn with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 碗 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 只 (zhī) or 个 (gè). For example, one bowl is 一只碗 (yì zhī wǎn).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 碗 from the suggestions. Typing wan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
碗 is an HSK 3 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.