How to Write 栾 (luán) — Meaning “goldenrain tree”

Imagine a goldenrain tree (木) with beautiful yellow flowers that look like little golden coins falling down. The bottom part of 栾 looks like a simplified version of 亦 meaning 'also' — you can think: "This tree also has golden flowers." This connects the tree radical to the unique shape below.

The top part 木 must be written with a horizontal stroke that stretches slightly, and the cross stroke should be straight. A common mistake is making the bottom part look exactly like 亦 — note that 栾 has a vertical stroke through the center, while 亦 has no such stroke. Ensure the total of 10 strokes by counting carefully: 4 strokes for 木 and 6 for the bottom component.

栾 (luán) means goldenrain tree and has a unique bottom structure not found in 杪 (miǎo, meaning treetop) or 杭 (háng, meaning to sail or a place name). Visually, 栾 has a wider bottom with a central vertical stroke, while 杪 has 少 (few) on the bottom, and 杭 has 亢 (tall) on the right. Remember: 栾 is the only one that has the tree radical (木) on top rather than on the left or right side.

栾 is most commonly used as a surname (姓栾, xìng luán) and also appears in the name of the goldenrain tree (栾树, luán shù), which is a popular ornamental tree in China. The tree's flowers (栾华, luán huá) are admired in Chinese gardens, and the character has cultural connections to ancient texts where the tree was associated with elegance. However, 栾 is not in the HSK vocabulary list, so learners may only encounter it in names or botanical contexts.

Common words containing 栾 include: 栾树 (luán shù) — goldenrain tree; 姓栾 (xìng luán) — Surname Luan; 栾华 (luán huá) — goldenrain tree flower.