鼹 (yǎn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

鼹

yǎn[yan3]Tone 3

mole

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鼴

Guru Deep Dive

English · mole

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:23

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (鼠) is complex and compressed, while the right side (菤) provides structural balance with its winding lower section.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 鼴 simplifies to 鼹 by standardizing the right-side phonetic component components for modern handwriting efficiency.

1. Meaning

mole (the burrowing mammal)

blind burrower

NounFormal#animals#nature#mammals

Sample Usage

土拨鼠和鼹鼠在地下挖洞。
tǔ bō shǔ hé yǎn shǔ zài dì xià wā dòng.
Marmots and moles dig tunnels underground.
鼹鼠是一种小型哺乳动物。
yǎn shǔ shì yī zhǒng xiǎo xíng bǔ rǔ dòng wù.
The mole is a small mammal.

2. Sound

/[jan²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

鼹

yǎnyan3

ˇ(214)

=yǎn

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 a semi-vowel glide like 'y' in 'yes'

Unaspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue body raises toward the hard palate for the initial glide.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'on' or 'an' in 'father' + 'n'

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

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 starts mid, dips low into the throat, and rises back up, resembling an incredulous 'What?' in English.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, yǎn changes to a 2nd tone (yán).

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with yān (smoke/tobacco) which uses the 1st tone high level.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from chest level and sweep up high.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 23 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (鼠) is complex and compressed, while the right side (菤) provides structural balance with its winding lower section.

Simplification Logic: Traditional 鼴 simplifies to 鼹 by standardizing the right-side phonetic component components for modern handwriting efficiency.

4. Components

Radical 鼠 · Rat Radical (rat, mouse, rodent)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 鼠 (indicates that the creature is a rodent-like burrowing animal)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 菤 (original sound: juǎn / yǎn sound phonetic clue)

The character combines the rat radical (鼠) on the left, showing it is a rodent, with the phonetic component (菤) on the right, providing the yǎn sound.

鼠 Radical meaning rodent or mouse
菤 Phonetic indicator providing the sound yǎn

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 晏 (yàn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: A later compound character created by pairing the radical for rodent (鼠) with a phonetic sound provider to categorize the blind underground mammal.

Semantic Evolution: Has consistently referred to subterranean burrowing moles across dynastic botanical and zoological texts.

Traditional Chinese zoology grouped moles closely with mice and rats due to their subterranean habits and small size.

6. Sinosphere

Sound Shift Bridge: English speakers can anchor the sound to the English name of the animal (mole) while remembering the native Chinese term yǎn shǔ.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A blind rat (鼠) wearing a roll (菤) of bandages over its eyes tunnels underground like a mole.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

晏

yànsurname Yan; latePhonetic Core (声旁)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

眼(yǎn)

眼 has the eye radical (目) for vision, whereas 鼹 has the rat radical (鼠) for the animal mole.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这只[___]在花园的草坪下面挖了许多洞。

Clue: yǎn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the character with 眼 (yǎn, eye) due to identical pronunciation and similar visual complexity.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What animal does the character 鼹 represent and what is its radical?

Production: How do you write the character for 'mole' (yǎn) combining the rat radical and phonetic part?

鼹yǎnmole

Speed:

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