How to Write 牮 (jiàn) — Meaning “To prop up / A support”

Imagine a strong ox (牛) standing under a leaning house to "build" (建) and push it back upright. The ox is literally propping up the building, just like the character's meaning of "to prop up."

Write the left radical 牛 first, but note the bottom stroke changes to a rising diagonal (㇀) when next to another component. Then write 建 on the right, which starts with the 廴 (long stride) radical, not 辶. The total is 9 strokes, and the right part is slightly taller than the left.

牮 has 牛 on the left and 建 on the right, meaning "to prop up." 牠 (tā) is a rare character used as a pronoun for animals, with 牛 plus 也. 牡 (mǔ) means "male animal," with 牛 plus 土. Unlike these, 牮 is not about animals but about building supports.

牮 is a specialized character used in construction and repair contexts, like 牮屋 (propping up a house) or 打牮 (shoring up a building). It is not common in daily conversation but appears in technical manuals or when describing traditional methods of straightening wooden structures.

Common words containing 牮 include: 牮屋 (jiàn wū) — To prop up a house for repair; 牮正 (jiàn zhèng) — To straighten a structure by propping it up; 打牮 (dǎ jiàn) — to shore up a building.