How to Write 卂 (xùn) — Meaning “to fly fast; rapid”

Imagine a small bird in mid-flight: the horizontal line is its outstretched wings, the left-falling stroke is its angled body, and the curved hook (乙) is its tail sweeping forward. This visual of a bird speeding through the air directly matches the meaning 'to fly fast.'

Write the short horizontal line first, then the left-falling stroke that starts above the horizontal and crosses it. Finally, write the curved hook (乙) starting from the bottom left, moving right, and curving upward. A common mistake is making the hook too large or forgetting the left-falling stroke, so keep all strokes compact and balanced.

乙 is just a single curved hook stroke with no horizontal or left-falling strokes, and it means 'second' or is a heavenly stem. 卂 has three strokes and means 'fast flight.' 㐌 looks different because it has a vertical stroke instead of a left-falling one; it is a rare character not used in modern Chinese. Counting strokes and checking the middle stroke helps tell them apart.

卂 is very rare in daily writing and appears mostly in classical literature or formal expressions like 卂卂 (rapidly) and 卂疾 (fast and urgent). It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so you mostly see it in historical texts or poetry describing swift movement. Understanding it helps with reading older or literary Chinese.

Common words containing 卂 include: 卂卂 (xùn xùn) — rapidly; swiftly; 卂疾 (xùn jí) — fast and urgent; rapid; 卂行 (xùn xíng) — to walk fast; to travel rapidly.