卵 (luǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “egg (of fish, insects, birds and other animals)”. It is written from 卯 (open gates; the fourth earthly branch, used here as a shape unit) and 丷 (two spreading strokes), and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “egg — two small dots resting inside the shell”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
卯 + 丷
Overlapping structure
- 卯 open gates; the fourth earthly branch, used here as a shape unit · mǎo unknown
- 丷 two spreading strokes unknown
Structure from: hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph stroke inspection (第 1、2、4、5、6 笔与「卯」同形，第 3、7 笔是左右各一点)
Memory aid
Take 卯, the two panels of an open gate, and drop one dot into each panel (丷). Two small things now sit inside the shell halves — 卵 is an egg.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 鱼卵yú luǎnfish eggs; roe; spawn卵 = luǎn
- 卵巢luǎn cháoovary卵 = luǎn
Go deeper
All readings
egg
egg (of fish, insects, birds and other animals); ovum; spawn
动物或昆虫产的蛋；也指卵子。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 鱼卵yú luǎnfish eggs; roe; spawn卵 = luǎn
- 卵巢luǎn cháoovary卵 = luǎn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 卵 mean?
卵 (luǎn) means egg (of fish, insects, birds and other animals); ovum; spawn.
How do you pronounce 卵?
It is pronounced luǎn.
What parts is 卵 made of?
卯 (open gates; the fourth earthly branch, used here as a shape unit) and 丷 (two spreading strokes). The recorded source is: hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph stroke inspection (第 1、2、4、5、6 笔与「卯」同形，第 3、7 笔是左右各一点). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 卵 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 卵?
卩. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 卵?
Common ones are 鱼卵 and 卵巢. The reading of 卵 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.