框

• Pinyin: kuàng
• Hanzi breakdown: 框 = 木 + 匡 (wood radical + rectify — a wooden enclosure or frame)

Meaning

A frame; a border; to frame or enclose. Refers to the structural border around pictures, doors, or windows, and metaphorically to boundaries or restrictions.

Used for physical frames (画框 — picture frame, 门框 — door frame, 眼镜框 — glasses frame) and metaphorical limits (框架 — framework, 跳出框框 — think outside the box). As a verb, 框 means to constrain or limit within boundaries.

Examples

1. 这幅画的框是用上等红木精心制作的，本身就是一件艺术品。 The frame of this painting was carefully made from top-grade rosewood; it’s a work of art in its own right.
2. 我们不能被传统思维框住，必须敢于突破陈规，寻求创新。 We can’t let traditional thinking box us in—we must dare to break old rules and pursue innovation.
3. 系统设计的基本框架已经确定，接下来需要填充具体的功能模块。 The basic framework of the system design has been set; next we need to fill in the specific functional modules.

Usage Guide

Context: design, thinking, construction, systems

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 创新思维要求我们跳出既有的框框，从全新的角度重新审视问题。(Innovative thinking requires us to break out of existing frameworks and re-examine problems from entirely new perspectives.)
• 这副眼镜的框采用了超轻钛合金材质，佩戴起来几乎感觉不到重量。(The frame of these glasses uses an ultra-light titanium alloy material, so wearing them feels almost weightless.)

Don't Say

• 把他框起来 — ambiguous; could mean 'frame him' or 'restrict him'; use 给他设限 for restrictions or 陷害他 for framing someone

Origin & History

框 = 木 + 匡 (wood + correct/frame — a wooden frame)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal