yànyān

swallow (bird)

A swallow, with its head 廿, wings , and tail 

Components
廿 meaning component

廿  Meaning component

niàn

  

twenty

口 meaning component

  Meaning component

kǒu

  

mouth

北 meaning component

  Meaning component

běi

  

north

灬 meaning component

  Meaning component

biāohuǒ

  

fire

Evolution

燕 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
燕 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
燕 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
燕 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

yàn

swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy; swallow (family Hirundinidae); old variant of [yàn]

 

Yān

Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in modern Hebei and Liaoning; north Hebei; the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕 (337-370), Later Yan 後燕|后燕 (384-409), Southern Yan 南燕 (398-410), Northern Yan 北燕 (409-436); surname Yan

() 

yàn

variant of [yàn]

Most common words with 燕
Freq.
Word
Meaning

feast

燕麦

oats

燕尾服

tails

燕子

swallow

燕窝

swallow's nest

Component uses

Sound component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*ʔˤe[n]-s

'enH

yàn

swallow (n.)

*ʔˤe[n]-s

'enH

yàn

feast


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 2.7391% of movies

2640th most common character in movies

1705th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

16

Unicode

U+71D5

Shuowen

“燕,玄鳥也。籋口,布翄,枝尾,象形。”


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