The character 看 (kān): to look

A Chinese water town: a green blue canal runs to a humpbacked stone bridge, lined with whitewashed houses under dark tiles, balconies and orange lanterns, willows leaning over the water. On the left quay a terracotta orange figure holds a flat hand above the eyes and gazes down the canal. On the same quay at the right stands the character 看 in near black: three almost level lines stacked and crossed by a long stroke sweeping down to the left, an upright frame of three cells beneath their right half.

Pronunciation: kān
Strokes: 9
Level: HSK 1
Radical: 目

What it means

to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard

Where its shape comes from

Xu Shen needs five words for it: to look, from 手, with 目 beneath. A hand held above the eye, the one we still raise as a visor to see into the distance without being dazzled, and the gesture has not changed. Both elements belong to characters already studied, 手 and 目; it is the hand that altered its shape on climbing above the eye.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database.

A way to remember it

The 目 of entry twenty-five, and above it the hand of entry twenty-one, lying flat. In 手 the upright runs down and finishes with a hook to the left; here it gives way to a long slanting stroke that crosses all three bars and travels far down to the left.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

看见 kàn jiàn · HSK 1 to see; to catch sight of
看法 kàn fǎ · HSK 4 way of looking at a thing; view; opinion; CL:個|个[ge4]
看望 kàn wàng · HSK 5 to pay a visit to; to see (sb)
看不起 kàn bu qǐ · HSK 5 to look down upon; to despise
看待 kàn dài · HSK 6 to look upon; to regard
看到 kàn dào to see

Writing it

See the stroke order of 看, animated stroke by stroke.