驯 (xùn) is a Chinese character meaning “to tame (an animal)”. It is written from 马 (horse) and 川 (river), side by side, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “to tame”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
马 + 川
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分，以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：6 画 = 马 3 画 + 川 3 画；部首取 UCD CJKRadicals 马部；声符 川 见《说文解字》「馴，馬順也。从馬川聲」
Memory aid
A horse (马) standing beside a river (川). The river runs the same way every day, and the horse learns to follow it — that is what it means to be tamed.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 驯服xùn fúto tame; docile驯 = xùn
- 温驯wēn xùngentle and docile驯 = xùn
Go deeper
All readings
to tame
to tame (an animal); to train to obey; docile, well-behaved
使动物顺从、听从人；也形容性情温顺。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 驯服xùn fúto tame; docile驯 = xùn
- 温驯wēn xùngentle and docile驯 = xùn
Sound component
川 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 驯 mean?
驯 (xùn) means to tame (an animal); to train to obey; docile, well-behaved.
How do you pronounce 驯?
It is pronounced xùn.
What parts is 驯 made of?
马 (horse) and 川 (river), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分，以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：6 画 = 马 3 画 + 川 3 画；部首取 UCD CJKRadicals 马部；声符 川 见《说文解字》「馴，馬順也。从馬川聲」. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 驯 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 驯?
马. 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 驯?
Common ones are 驯服 and 温驯. The reading of 驯 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.