Example sentences
chū出qù去wán玩ma吗？
Want to go out?
hái孩zi子men们wán玩dé得kāi开xīn心。
The kids are having fun.
The story behind the character
玩
玩 is 玉 (jade) with 元 on the right for the sound. The classical gloss for 玩 is 弄也, to toy with, to handle. And the thing a person in ancient China toyed with was jade. You held it, turned it over in your fingers, felt the surface. So 玩 started as the pleasure of holding something fine in your hand, and now it covers playing of every kind.