圈子

• Pinyin: quān zi
• Hanzi breakdown: 圈 = 囗 + 卷 (circle — an enclosed boundary); 子 (nominal suffix indicating a group or entity)

Meaning

Circle; social group; a community of people sharing similar backgrounds, interests, or professions.

文艺圈子 (literary and arts circle), 朋友圈子 (friend circle). Can be neutral or slightly pejorative when implying an insular clique. In modern digital usage, 朋友圈 (WeChat Moments) is a closely related term. 进入某个圈子 means to break into a particular social or professional network.

Examples

1. 在这个圈子里混得久了，你自然就会摸清其中的规则与潜规则。 Once you’ve been in this circle long enough, you naturally figure out its rules—and its unwritten rules.
2. 他多年来深耕学术圈子，与国内外众多知名学者建立了深厚的合作关系。 He has been deeply involved in academic circles for many years and has built strong collaborative relationships with many well-known scholars at home and abroad.
3. 娱乐圈子的竞争异常激烈，每年大量新人入行却只有极少数能够真正站稳脚跟。 Competition in the entertainment industry is extremely intense—every year huge numbers of newcomers enter, but only a very few truly gain a stable foothold.

Usage Guide

Context: social networking, entertainment, academia, business

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 想在投资圈子里站稳脚跟，除了专业能力之外，建立可信赖的人脉网络同样至关重要。(To establish oneself in the investment circle, building a trustworthy network is just as crucial as professional competence.)
• 她刚从外地来到这座城市，在本地的朋友圈子还很小，生活上多有不便。(Having just arrived from out of town, her local social circle was still very small, making daily life somewhat inconvenient.)

Don't Say

• 在圈子里绕了一圈 — use 绕了一圈 alone for physically going around in a circle; 圈子 in this context means a social group, not a physical loop

Origin & History

圈 (circle) + 子 (diminutive/collective suffix) — a circle; a bounded social group

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal