拣 (jiǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to pick out”. It is written from 扌 (hand (radical form)) and 东 (east), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “to pick out; to select”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
扌 + 东
Left–right structure
Structure from: Unicode U+62E3; modern decomposition ⿰扌东 checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (3 + 5 = 8 strokes)
Memory aid
A hand (扌) reaches out toward 东 (east) and picks one thing out of the pile.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 挑拣tiāo jiǎnto pick and choose; to be choosy拣 = jiǎn
- 拣选jiǎn xuǎnto select; to sort out拣 = jiǎnspoken asjián xuǎn
Go deeper
All readings
to pick out; to select
to pick out; to choose; to select from among several things
挑选；从若干东西里拿出合意的。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 挑拣tiāo jiǎnto pick and choose; to be choosy拣 = jiǎn
- 拣选jiǎn xuǎnto select; to sort out拣 = jiǎnspoken asjián xuǎn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 拣 mean?
拣 (jiǎn) means to pick out; to choose; to select from among several things.
How do you pronounce 拣?
It is pronounced jiǎn.
What parts is 拣 made of?
扌 (hand (radical form)) and 东 (east), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+62E3; modern decomposition ⿰扌东 checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry (3 + 5 = 8 strokes). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 拣 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 拣?
扌. 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 拣?
Common ones are 挑拣 and 拣选. The reading of 拣 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.