Writing Balance Rule: Keep the outer enclosure box balanced and allow the internal dot stroke to nest comfortably inside without touching the borders.
1. Meaning
pill, pellet, small ball
small spherical objectmedicine in pill form
noun / suffixNeutral#medicine#shapes#objects
Sample Usage
药丸
yào wán
pill, medicine tablet
肉丸
ròu wán
meatball
2. Sound
/[wan³⁵]/Tone: 35
丸
wánwan2
|
++
´(35)
=wán
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
wan
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
w
Type: Glide (w)
Sounds like: w sound like English 'w' in 'water'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Round lips tightly before gliding into vowel.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Lips rounded and slightly protruded, back of tongue raised toward soft palate.
Final Rhyme
an
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'un' in 'fun' without the glottal stop
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahn'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T2 (35)
3 → 5 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from mid to high pitch, identical to the inflection used when asking 'Really?' in English.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, it shifts to a half-rising contour depending on speech speed.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the ending '-an' with '-ang'. Make sure the nasal sound stops with an 'n' (tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge) rather than 'ng' (back of the tongue touching the soft palate).
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand sweep from chest level up to eye level, mirroring an interrogative 'What?' in English.
3. Writing
Topology: Full enclosure · Strokes: 3 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the outer enclosure box balanced and allow the internal dot stroke to nest comfortably inside without touching the borders.
4. Components
Radical丶 · Dot Radical (dot, point)
Semantic Clue (形旁):九 (Provides the phonetic clue and basic structural frame representing a curved shape.)