欢 is a Chinese character with HSK 1 on the new exam.
Etymology
Oracle-bone origin
欢 in its traditional form 歡 is a phono-semantic compound that does not appear in oracle bone script. The right component 欠 depicts a person with an open mouth, carrying the semantic load of a vocal or emotional expression. The left component 雚 (a type of heron, read guàn) serves as the phonetic.
Form evolution
Seal script shows the full 雚 on the left beside 欠 on the right. Clerical and regular script kept this bulky structure as 歡 throughout the imperial period. The PRC simplification replaced 雚 with the unrelated but simpler 又 to produce 欢, a drastic reduction that obscures both the phonetic and the original internal logic.
How the meaning evolved
The earliest sense is to vocalise joy, cheer, or shout happily, which stayed close to the 欠 component indicating something produced with the mouth. This broadened into general happiness and pleasure, seen in 欢乐 (joy) and 欢迎 (to welcome, literally to receive with joy). In modern Mandarin it also covers liking or enjoying in the extremely common 喜欢.
Cultural note
The compound 欢迎光临 (welcome) is the standard greeting heard in Chinese shops and restaurants, and its 欢 preserves the original sense of vocally expressed happiness at a guest's arrival. Because the simplified 欢 looks nothing like the traditional 歡, learners reading older texts or Taiwanese signage often fail to recognise it is the same word.
Basic info
| New HSK exam | Recognise at HSK 1 |
| Frequency | #1026 most common |
Example sentences
Words containing 欢
On the new HSK 1 exam
Studying for HSK 1? Keep 欢 with the rest of your level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Appears in these articles
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Reviewed by RJ Murray, Founder, HSK Lord.