Meaning
language; culture; writing; formal; literary
Chinese: 文字、文章或文化。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “wen” becomes a different word in each tone. 文 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 课文kè wéntext
- 作文zuò wénto write an essay; composition (student essay)
- 文件wén jiàndocument; file
- 文化wén huàculture; civilization; cultural
- 文章wén zhāngarticle; essay; literary works; writings
Example Sentence
这篇文章写得很好。Zhè piān wén zhāng xiě de hěn hǎo.This article is well written.
这Zhèthis篇piānsheet文章wén zhāngarticle写xiěto write得很de hěn(after an adjective) very好hǎogood。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A person seen from the front with a mark or tattoo on the chest. From ‘pattern / decoration’ it came to mean ‘writing, script, culture’.
A way to remember it
A figure with a pattern on the chest — markings, hence writing.
Easy to confuse with
- 交‘To cross / hand over’: a similar top, but with crossed legs below.