TongTong
Sign in

健全 (jiàn quán) — (adjective) sound, robust, well-developed; (verb) to perfect, to strengthen, to improve

Definition

健全 emphasizes being 'well-developed and complete' in systems, laws, or character (身心健全), rather than physical strength — that sense is 强壮/健壮. As a verb, it means to make something complete, similar to 完善.

adjective
soundrobustwell-developed
verb
to perfectto strengthento improve

Examples

  • 健全。
    Zhè ge guó jiā de fǎ lǜ tǐ xì hěn jiàn quán.
    This country's legal system is very sound.
  • 健全。
    Wǒ men zhèng zài nǔ lì jiàn quán shè huì bǎo zhàng zhì dù.
    We are working hard to improve the social security system.
  • 健全。
    Lǎo nián rén yào bǎo chí shēn xīn jiàn quán.
    Elderly people should maintain sound physical and mental health.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

健jiànstrong/sound
全quáncomplete

健 means strong or sound, and 全 means complete; together they describe being sound and well-developed.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
建
建jiàn健jiàn
Same sound today

The left part 亻 depicts a person, and the right part 建 gives the sound.

Open 健 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape puts 入 together with 玉 to show a whole piece of jade, so it means complete or whole.

Open 全 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Good & Bad

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.