竄 (cuàn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

竄

cuàn[cuan4]Tone 4

to flee, to scuttle

HSK 7

View Simplified FormSwitch to Simplified

窜

Guru Deep Dive

English · to flee, to scuttle

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The top element (穴) must be wide and shelter the bottom element (鼠 without its tail), keeping the character balanced and vertically centered.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 竄 retains the full rat 鼠 component at the bottom, while the simplified form 窜 compresses the lower element into a simpler shape while preserving the cave and the animal underneath.

1. Meaning

to flee, to scuttle, to run away hastily

to exile or banishto amend or edit text (historical)

VerbFormal / Literary#movement#action#escape

Sample Usage

抱头鼠窜
bào tóu shǔ cuàn
to flee in panic like a startled rat
东逃西窜
dōng táo xī cuàn
to flee in all directions

2. Sound

/[tsʰuan⁵¹]/Tone: 51

竄

cuàncuan4

`(51)

=cuàn

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

cuan

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Dental Sibilant

Sounds like: ts in 'cats'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Sharp burst of air through teeth! Tissue MUST flutter strongly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip pressed lightly against the back of the upper/lower teeth, releasing a sharp puff of air.

Final Rhyme

uan

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: wan in 'swan'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'wahn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops abruptly like an emphatic command or a sudden exclamation of 'No!'.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse 'cuàn' with 'chuàn' (to string together); 'c' is unaspirated/aspirated dental affricate [tsʰ], whereas 'ch' is a retroflex [tʂʰ].

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful downward karate chop, matching the sudden panic of fleeing.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top element (穴) must be wide and shelter the bottom element (鼠 without its tail), keeping the character balanced and vertically centered.

4. Components

Radical 穴 · Cave Radical (cave, hole, pit)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 穴 (Indicates a cave or hiding hole)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 鼠 (original sound: shǔ)

A rat (鼠) rushing out of a cave (穴) to flee.

穴 Cave or hole
鼠 Rat or scurrying creature

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 竄

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the cave sign (穴) with a scurrying animal or rat (鼠), representing a wild animal or rodent darting out of its burrow to escape danger.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a rodent scurrying from a hole to general rapid fleeing, escaping, and later even editing texts (by crossing out and changing words).

In classical texts, '窜' also meant to revise or alter text, akin to scrubbing away mistakes from a manuscript like a rat digging through paper.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: サン (san) / Kun: nigaru / ogoruka

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

찬

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A frightened rat escapes its cave (穴) by scampering away in a massive hurry, CUAN-ting its lucky stars it didn't get caught!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

攛

+ 扌 (hand)

躥

+ 足 (foot)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

串(chuàn)

'窜' has the cave roof (穴) on top; '串' has vertical stacking like shish kebab skewers.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

歹徒見警車開來，立刻抱頭亂[___]。

Clue: cuàn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the top radical 穴 with 宀 (roof) or confusing the character with 串 (chuàn).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 窜, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to flee / scuttle' (cuàn) using the cave and rat components?

竄cuànto flee, to scuttle

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0