How to Write 愆 (qiān) — Meaning “fault”

Think of the sound "qiān" like "cheat" — cheating is a fault. Visually, imagine a heart (心) that is "overflooded" (衍) with bad ideas, causing a fault. This connects the components to the meaning of wrongdoing.

The top part 衍 is complex: on the left write 彳 (two strokes), on the right write 亻 (person) with two dots (冫) below it, then finish with 心 on the bottom in three strokes. A common mistake is to make the top too wide or to confuse the dots with a different radical.

愆 has 衍 (overflow + heart) meaning "fault", while 恿 has 甬 (a drum shape) + heart meaning "to urge or instigate". The rare 㥯 has top 因 (cause) + heart and means "worry" or "sorrow". Visually, 愆's top part has extra strokes (彳 and dots) compared to 恿's simpler 甬.

愆 is a formal, literary character not used in everyday conversation. It appears in words like 愆期 (overdue, in contracts), 罪愆 (sin or transgression, in religious or moral texts), and 愆尤 (mistake, in written language). You will mostly see it in classical or legal Chinese, not casual speech.

Common words containing 愆 include: 愆期 (qiān qī) — overdue; 罪愆 (zuì qiān) — Fault; transgression; sin; 愆尤 (qiān yóu) — mistake.