彦

彦 · yàn

elegant

Entry ↗

Meanings & readings

Meaning & readings

elegant

Mandarin
yàn
Cantonese
jin6

Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.

Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese

Readings recorded for 彦 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.

Japanese 日本語

Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.

On’yomi · katakana

ゲン

Kun’yomi · hiragana

ひこ

Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.

Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kJapanese ↗ · provisional property

ゲン ひこ

Korean 한국어

Hanja readings · Hangul

언

Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.

Reading sources explained
언
KS X 1001 (0) · Personal-name Hanja (N)
Source record & scope

Unicode Unihan 17.0.0 · kHangul ↗ · provisional property

언:0N

Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

Not recorded for this exact character in this dataset. This does not mean the language has no reading.

Form & structure

Writing & identity

Unicode
U+5F66
Radical
彡 · 59
Strokes
9 · Unihan
Residual
6

Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.

Stroke order

9 strokes
彦
Strokes
9
Convention
PRC · Make Me a Hanzi

9 strokes in writing order. Play to watch them, or Step through one at a time.

Modern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.

Graphical structure

⿸产彡(GMTJKP)
How to read these symbols

⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.

BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.

Words & connections

Words using 彦

Character connections

2 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.

History & distinctions

Related forms

彥

Unihan traditional/simplified variant properties. Conversion may depend on context.

Historical readings

Middle Chinese
ngjenH · 魚變 反切 · #2716

Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.

Source row & reading categories

CSV line 15018 · ngjenH = 山開三去仙疑

Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗

Sources & reference

Evidence & next depth

Source editions & exact scope ↗
Retained Unihan properties
kMandarin
yàn
kCantonese
jin6
kDefinition
elegant
kTotalStrokes
9
kRSUnicode
59.6
kTraditionalVariant
U+5F65 U+5F66
kSimplifiedVariant
U+5F66
kTGH
2013:4314

Readings across dictionaries

Hanyu Da Zidian
yàn,pán 20854.090
Small numbers locate dictionary entries; 粵 introduces Cantonese. Includes rare or historical readings. Source notation ↗

Reference desk

Sentences in context

Find examples using 彦 ↗

The attributed sentence collection is still small; this spelling has no retained example yet.

Study this character

Structure & connections

0.10
9dictionary records using 彦2forms using this shape0attributed sound links
⿸ Upper-left enclosure

Shape description
产 wraps around 彡 from the upper left · the shape used in China, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea
Source notation ^⿸产彡$(GMTJKP)
BabelStone · 2025-06-27. Encoded shape and region tags; graphical analysis does not establish historical function.

Decompose & trace ↗Browse all 9 word records ↗Explore sound families ↗Component search ↗
Retained descriptions & scope

^⿸产彡$(GMTJKP)

All alternatives are retained. Only the first description drives component search and graphical links. Counts describe this snapshot, not frequency. Evidence and method.