How to Write 旬 (xún) — Meaning “a period of ten days”

Picture the radical 勹 as a wrapper or bag holding ten suns (日). Each sun represents one day, so the wrapper contains ten days — exactly the meaning of 旬.

Start with the radical 勹: first a left-falling stroke, then a horizontal hook. Inside, write 日 with a vertical, a horizontal fold, and two horizontals. A common mistake is making the 勹 too wide or too narrow; it should just enclose the 日 comfortably.

The key difference is what is inside the 勹 wrapper. 旬 has 日 (sun/day), 勾 has 厶 (private), and 勿 has two slashes (丿丿). Their meanings are also different: 旬 is a ten-day period, 勾 means hook or cancel, and 勿 means 'do not'.

旬 is used to divide a month into three ten-day periods: 上旬 (first ten days), 中旬 (middle ten days), and 下旬 (last ten days). You will often see it in schedules, weather forecasts, and monthly reports in Chinese culture.

Common words containing 旬 include: 上旬 (shàng xún) — The first ten days of a month; 中旬 (zhōng xún) — The middle ten days of a month; 下旬 (xià xún) — the last ten days of a month.