乾 — Chinese character
乾
gān
arid, dry; to fertilize; to penetrate; heavenly generative principle (male)
- Pinyin
- gān
- Radical
- 5 ⼄ (Second)
- Strokes
- 11
- Components
- 龺 乞
- Formation
- ideographic — Rays 十 emanating from the 日; 乞 provides the pronunciation
- Simplified
- 干
- Japanese
- 乾 as a kanji
Common words with 乾
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 乾坤 | qián kūn | yin and yang; heaven and earth; the universe |
| 乾旦 | qián dàn | male actor playing the female role (Chinese opera) |
| 康乾盛世 | kāng qián shèng shì | booming and golden age of Qing dynasty (from Kang Xi to Qian Long emperors) |
| 扭转乾坤 (扭轉乾坤) | niǔ zhuǎn qián kūn | lit. to upend heaven and earth (idiom); fig. to change the course of events |
| 旋乾转坤 (旋乾轉坤) | xuán qián zhuǎn kūn | lit. overturning heaven and earth (idiom); earth-shattering; a radical change |
| 朝乾夕惕 | zhāo qián xī tì | cautious and diligent all day long (idiom) |
乾 in the Chinese classics
Occurrences: I Ching 4 · Mencius 1 · Zhuangzi 4
- Hexagram 1
- Hexagram 21
- Mencius 7B.14
- Zhuangzi Perfect Happiness
- Zhuangzi Tien Tzŭ Fang
- Zhuangzi Robber Chê
Data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.