牵
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to lead along; to pull (an animal on a tether); (bound form) to involve; to draw in
- HSK 3.0
- Level 6
- Old HSK
- Level 6
- Strokes
- 9
- Radical
- 牛 +5
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 牽
- Common rank
- #1,477
- Unicode
- U+7275
Sound it out + + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 牵
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 牵一发而动全身 | lit. pulling a single hair makes the whole body move (idiom); fig. a small change in one p… | |
| 手牵手 | hand in hand | |
| 牵线人 | sb who pulls strings to get things done; wirepuller; go-between; matchmaker | |
| 牵红线 | to play matchmaker | |
| 牵着鼻子走 | to lead by the nose | |
| 牵牛花 | white-edged morning glory | |
| 无牵无挂 | (idiom) unburdened by obligations or attachments; carefree | |
| 牵牛星 | Altair (star); Cowherd of the folk tale Cowherd and Weaving maid 牛郎織女|牛郎织女 | |
| 顺手牵羊 | lit. to lead away a goat while passing by (idiom); fig. to opportunistically pocket sb's p… | |
| 牵引力 | motive force; traction | |
| 牵引车 | tractor unit; tractor truck; prime mover | |
| 牵强附会 | to make an irrelevant comparison or interpretation (idiom) | |
| 牵头 | to lead (an animal by the head); to take the lead; to coordinate (a combined operation); t… | |
| 牵心 | to worry; concerned | |
| 牵动 | to affect; to produce a change in sth | |
| 牵手 | to hold hands | |
| 牵线 | to pull strings; to manipulate (a puppet); to control from behind the scene; to mediate | |
| 拖牵索道 | anchor lift (ski-lift) | |
| 牵扯不清 | unclear; ambiguous; having an unclear relationship with | |
| 牵制 | to control; to curb; to restrict; to impede; to pin down (enemy troops) |