HSK Guide

关键關鍵 guānjiàn — key point, crux; crucial, critical

guānjiàn (first tone, high and level)guan1jian4

Traditional: 關鍵

key point, crux; crucial, critical

HSK 4· HSK 1–4 (classic)nounadjective
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Meanings

  1. key point, crux; crucial, critical

    关, to close or to bear on, and 键, a key or a pin — the one pin that a lock, or an argument, turns on. As a noun it stands alone at the head of a sentence, 关键是…, the crux of it is…; as an adjective it sits before another noun, 关键问题, the crucial question.

    noun

Character breakdown

  • 关關
    guān (first tone, high and level)

    to close, to shut; to turn off; to concern, to involve; a pass, a barrier, a customs post

    6 strokes⿱丷天Radical 八

Common combinations

  • 关键是
    guānjiàn (first tone, high and level) shì (fourth tone, falling)

    the key thing is…, what matters most is…

Example sentences

  • 成功的关键是不放弃。成功的關鍵是不放棄。Chénggōng (second tone, rising) de (neutral tone) guānjiàn (first tone, high and level) shì (fourth tone, falling) bú (second tone, rising) fàngqì. (fourth tone, falling)···

    The key to success is not giving up.

  • 这是一个关键问题，我们要认真想想。這是一個關鍵問題，我們要認真想想。Zhè (fourth tone, falling) shì (fourth tone, falling) yí (second tone, rising) ge (neutral tone) guānjiàn (first tone, high and level) wèntí, (fourth tone, falling) wǒmen (third tone, dipping) yào (fourth tone, falling) rènzhēn (fourth tone, falling) xiǎngxiang. (third tone, dipping)···

    This is a key question — we need to think about it carefully.

Similar words

Words containing 关