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燕

Mandarin · pinyin yàn#

swallow (family Hirundinidae)
old variant of 宴 yàn

Mandarin · pinyin Yān#

Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in present-day Hebei and Liaoning
north Hebei
the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕 Qián Yān (337–370), Later Yan 後燕 Hòu Yān (384–409), Southern Yan 南燕 Nán Yān (398–410), Northern Yan 北燕 Běi Yān (409–436)
surname Yan

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燕: yàn · swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4 · yan4

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1character link66same-tone records2source references

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 8 senses · 2 Cantonese readings

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jin1 · jin3

Cantonese word readings for 燕. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

swallow (family Hirundinidae) or swift (family Apodidae)
(dialectal) shuttlecock used in jianzi

character · Etymology 2

(historical) Yan, the original capital of the ancient state.
(historical) (～國) Yan, an ancient march, duchy, and kingdom of northeastern China during the Zhou dynasty
(historical) the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms
northern Hebei
Yan, a surname

character · Etymology 3

(obsolete) alternative form of 宴 (yàn, “to feast”)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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