How to Write 椽 (chuán) — Meaning “rafter”

Imagine a wooden beam (木) that supports a roof, with the right side 彖 looking like a row of parallel rafters. You can also remember that 'chuán' sounds like 'chuan' as in a boat, and rafters are like the wooden skeleton of a boat's roof.

The left radical 木 is written first with its standard 4 strokes: horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling. The right side 彖 has 9 strokes and must start with the top part 彑 (like a pig's head), not a different shape. A common mistake is mixing up the bottom part 豕 (pig body) with similar-looking components.

椽 (rafter) has the right side 彖, while 桫 (a tree species) has 沙 on the right, and 桲 (a fruit tree) has 孛. Visually, 彖 is more complex with a pig-body shape, whereas 沙 and 孛 are simpler. In meaning, 椽 is a building material, but 桫 and 桲 are names of specific trees.

椽 is used mainly in architectural or historical contexts to refer to roof rafters, such as in the word 椽子 (chuán zi). It is not part of daily conversation but appears in technical writing, literature, or idioms like 大椽 (large rafter) describing strong support. It also has cultural value in traditional Chinese wooden architecture.

Common words containing 椽 include: 椽子 (chuán zi) — rafter; 大椽 (dà chuán) — Large rafter; 木椽 (mù chuán) — wooden rafter.