Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced yan
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced yan, including 眼 yǎn, 言 yán, 研 yán, 验 yàn, 严 yán. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say yan, ease in through the y- glide, open into an, and ride the tone across — one continuous sound.
Initial y
Start the syllable on the initial y, then run straight into the final an — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final an
Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (眼 yǎn, 言 yán, 研 yán, 验 yàn, 严 yán) and lock in their tones. 24 common characters share the sound yan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
yan turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 烟, 燕, 咽… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 言, 研, 严… (11 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 眼, 演, 掩… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 验, 厌, 艳… (5 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing yan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
24 common characters in this group.