乾 (qián) is a Chinese character meaning “heaven”. It is written from 𠦝 (sun rising through grass; the left part of 乾, 朝 and 韩, written 十 + 日 + 十) and 乞 (to beg), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “heaven (as in 乾坤, heaven and earth)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
𠦝 + 乞
Left–right structure
- 𠦝 sun rising through grass; the left part of 乾, 朝 and 韩, written 十 + 日 + 十 unknown
- 乞 to beg · qǐ unknown
Structure from: hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（现代字形 11 画：𠦝 8 + 乞 3）；康熙部首 乙（Unicode radicals）
Memory aid
On the left, the morning sun breaking through the grass (𠦝); on the right, someone begging (乞) with eyes turned up to the sky. Sun and sky above them: heaven. Both parts are really in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 乾坤qián kūnheaven and earth; the universe乾 = qián
Go deeper
All readings
heaven
heaven; the first of the Eight Trigrams (☰), standing for heaven and the male principle
八卦之一，代表天；也泛指天、男性一方。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 乾坤qián kūnheaven and earth; the universe乾 = qián
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 乾 mean?
乾 (qián) means heaven; the first of the Eight Trigrams (☰), standing for heaven and the male principle.
How do you pronounce 乾?
It is pronounced qián.
What parts is 乾 made of?
𠦝 (sun rising through grass; the left part of 乾, 朝 and 韩, written 十 + 日 + 十) and 乞 (to beg), side by side. The recorded source is: hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（现代字形 11 画：𠦝 8 + 乞 3）；康熙部首 乙（Unicode radicals）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 乾 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 乾?
乙. 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 乾?
Common ones are 乾坤. The reading of 乾 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.