Meaning
to speak; to say; talk; word
Chinese: 说话、言语或文字。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “yan” becomes a different word in each tone. 言 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 语言yǔ yánlanguage
- 发言fā yánto make a speech; statement; utterance
- 留言liú yánto leave a message; to leave one's comments; message
- 言语yán yǔwords; speech; (spoken) language
- 言论yán lùnexpression of opinion; views; remarks; arguments
Example Sentence
行动比语言更重要。Xíng dòng bǐ yǔ yán gèng zhòng yào.Actions are more important than words.
行动Xíng dòngoperation比bǐcompared to语言yǔ yánlanguage更gèngmore重要zhòng yàoimportant。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A pictograph of a tongue/mouth with sound rising: ‘words, speech; to say, speak; a word/character (七言诗); the speech radical (讠) in many characters’ (语言, 发言, 言论).
A way to remember it
Words rising from the mouth — speech; to say.