How to Write 夗 (yuàn) — Meaning “To turn over or curl up.”

Imagine a person (represented by the bottom part) lying on the ground at sunset (夕), tossing and turning because they cannot sleep. The shape of the lower part looks like a curled-up body, helping you recall that 夗 means to turn over or curl up.

Write the top radical 夕 first, which has three strokes: a left-falling stroke, a horizontal hook, and a right dot. Then draw the lower part as a single continuous bent stroke, starting from the left, curving right and down, then hooking up—do not separate it into two parts. A common mistake is making the lower part too straight; keep it curled to match the meaning.

夗 (yuàn) has the radical 夕 on top and a curled bottom, meaning to turn over. 夃 (gǔ) has a different top part ( resembling "古") and means "to sell" or an ancient vessel, and is very rare. 夅 (jiàng) looks like two downward strokes with a cross shape, meaning "to descend" or "to surrender" – it is more symmetric and lacks the evening radical.

夗 is extremely rare in modern Chinese; it appears almost exclusively in classical texts or as a component in other characters. It may be used in poetry or historical descriptions of restless sleep, and the reduplicated form 夗夗 describes the appearance of repeatedly turning over in bed.

Common words containing 夗 include: 夗夗 (yuàn yuàn) — The appearance of turning over..