Circular Reasoning

Chinese has lots of words which could be translated as round, circle. None of them correspond exactly to the English word “circle”. But each in context is unambiguous. Here are some of them. Context words are italicized, these express the core of the Chinese word.

圈 round as in a roll, whether a rolled pearl curtain, a rolled mat, a rolled tortilla, a rolled up fist. quan1
轮 a round (measure word; just like English “a round of golf” e.g.) lun2
圆 round, circle, sphere yuan2
圜 round, circle, around, ring huan2
周 circle, circumference zhou1
围 encircle, surround, around wei2
entwine, coil around, around, round rao4
团 round, as in lump, as in ball; regiment tuan2
patrol, round as in the police made their rounds xun2