丸 (wán) is a Chinese character meaning “a small round object”. It is written from 九 (nine) and 丶 (dot stroke), and takes 3 strokes.
Build the character for “ball; pellet”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
九 + 丶
Overlapping structure
Structure from: data-pipeline/sources/dictionary.txt modern decomposition candidate, verified against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke paths for 丸, 九, and 丶
Memory aid
Add a dot (丶) to nine (九), like marking one small round pellet.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 丸子wán ziball-shaped food; meatball丸 = wán
- 药丸yào wánpill丸 = wán
Go deeper
All readings
ball; pellet
a small round object; a pill or pellet
小而呈圆形的东西；也指丸药或丸剂。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 丸子wán ziball-shaped food; meatball丸 = wán
- 药丸yào wánpill丸 = wán
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 丸 mean?
丸 (wán) means a small round object; a pill or pellet.
How do you pronounce 丸?
It is pronounced wán.
What parts is 丸 made of?
九 (nine) and 丶 (dot stroke). The recorded source is: data-pipeline/sources/dictionary.txt modern decomposition candidate, verified against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke paths for 丸, 九, and 丶. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 丸 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 丸?
丿. 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 丸?
Common ones are 丸子 and 药丸. The reading of 丸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.