淹 (yān) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

淹

yān[yan1]Tone 1

to flood

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · to flood

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left water radical (氵) takes up about one-third of the width, while the right phonetic component (奄) occupies the remaining two-thirds, keeping both sides balanced in height.

1. Meaning

to flood or submerge in liquid

to drownto irritate the skin due to moisture or liquidto delay

VerbNeutral#water#disaster#action

Sample Usage

大水淹了村庄。
Dàshuǐ yān le cūnzhuāng.
The floodwaters submerged the village.
小心别淹死。
Xiǎoxīn bié yān sǐ.
Be careful not to drown.

2. Sound

/[jæn⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

淹

yānyan1

¯(55)

=yān

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

yan

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

Type: Glide (y)

Sounds like: y as in 'yes'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Front of tongue raised toward hard palate, vocal cords vibrating.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'on' in British English or 'an' in 'pan'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high across the entire syllable, similar to singing a high note without wavering.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the first tone yān with third tone yǎn, leading to completely different meanings.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a high, steady flat line, like holding a musical note at a high pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

4. Components

Radical 氵 · Water Radical (water, liquids, rivers)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 氵 (indicates the action involves water or liquids (flooding, submerging))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 奄 (original sound: yān)

Water (氵) combines with the phonetic element yān (奄) to portray water completely covering or overwhelming something.

氵 water semantic indicator
奄 phonetic clue providing the sound yān

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

13· Phonetic Root: 奄 (yǎn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the water radical (氵) representing floods and 奄 providing the sound yān.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting water overflowing or covering land, it extended to drowning and skin irritation caused by prolonged contact with liquids.

The component 奄 originally depicted a person covered or hidden under a shelter, which reinforced the idea of being engulfed.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: エン

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

엄

Sound Shift Bridge: The Mandarin final -an corresponds to Sino-Japanese on'yomi -en.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A flood of **water (氵)** rushed in so fast that it **yelled ('yan!')** as it **submerged** everything in its path.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

奄

yǎnsurname Yan; suddenlyPhonetic Core (声旁)

掩

yǎnto cover up; to conceal; to close (a door, book etc)+ 扌 (hand)

俺

ǎnI (northern dialects)+ 亻 (person)

唵

ǎn(interjection) oh!; (dialect) to stuff sth in one's mouth+ 口 (mouth)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

掩(yǎn)

掩 uses the hand radical (扌) for hiding with hands, whereas 淹 uses the water radical (氵) for flooding.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

暴雨导致多处街道被大水[___]了。

Clue: yān

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 淹 (yān, to flood) with 掩 (yǎn, to cover) because they share the same phonetic component 奄.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 淹, what is its primary meaning and what does the radical indicate?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to flood' (yān), and which radical does it use?

淹yānto flood

Speed:

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