妍

See also: 姸

妍	U+598D, 妍 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-598D

← 妌
[U+598C]

CJK Unified Ideographs

妎 →
[U+598E]

Translingual

Han character

妍 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 女一廿 (VMT), four-corner 4144₀, composition ⿰女开)

Derived characters

𡌎

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 256, character 9
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6075
Dae Jaweon: page 520, character 8
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1029, character 7
Unihan data for U+598D

Chinese

trad.		妍
simp. ^#		妍
alternative forms		姸

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (幵) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
笄	*kŋeː
枅	*kŋeː
蚈	kŋeː, ŋ̊ʰeːn
羿	*ŋeːs
栞	*ŋ̊ʰaːn
雃	ŋaːn, ŋ̊ʰeːn
詽	ŋreːn, tŋ̊ʰeːn
揅	*ŋeːn
幵	*kŋeːn
鳽	kŋeːn, ŋeːn, ŋ̊ʰreːŋ, ŋreːɡ
豣	kŋeːn, ŋeːns
麉	kŋeːn, ŋ̊ʰeːn
趼	kŋeːnʔ, ŋeːn, *ŋeːns
汧	ŋ̊ʰeːn, ŋ̊ʰeːns
岍	*ŋ̊ʰeːn
研	ŋɡeːn, ŋeːns
妍	*ŋeːn
訮	*hŋeːn
鈃	*ɡeːŋ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *ŋeːn): semantic 女 + phonetic 幵 (OC *kŋeːn).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yán (yan²)

(Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): jin⁴
Eastern Min (BUC): ngiĕng
Southern Min (Teochew, Peng'im): ngiêng⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹gni

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yán
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yán
  - Wade–Giles: yen²
  - Yale: yán
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yan
  - Palladius: янь (janʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: jin⁴
  - Yale: yìhn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jin⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: yin⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jiːn²¹/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: ngiĕng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋieŋ⁵⁵/
Southern Min
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: ngiêng⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: ngiêng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ŋieŋ⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹gni
  - MiniDict: nyi^平
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹'nyi
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /n̠ʲi⁵³/

Middle Chinese: ngen

Rime
Character	妍
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	疑 (31)
Final (韻)	先 (85)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	IV
Fanqie	五堅切
Baxter	ngen
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ŋen/
Pan Wuyun	/ŋen/
Shao Rongfen	/ŋɛn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ŋɛn/
Li Rong	/ŋen/
Wang Li	/ŋien/
Bernhard Karlgren	/ŋien/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yán
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jin⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*[ŋ]ˤe[r]/

(Zhengzhang): /*ŋeːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	妍
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yán
Middle Chinese	‹ ngen ›
Old Chinese	/*[ŋ]ˁe[r]/
English	beautiful
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	妍
Reading #	1/1
No.	6172
Phonetic component	幵
Rime group	元
Rime subdivision	2
Corresponding MC rime	姸
Old Chinese	/*ŋeːn/

Definitions

妍

(literary) bright, colorful and beautiful

Usage notes

Besides compounds, this character is also frequently used in personal names now.

Compounds

不辨妍媸
妍倡
妍唱
妍媚
妍媸
妍暖
妍皮痴骨
妍蒨
妍麗 / 妍丽
嫶妍
捧心妍
暄妍 (xuānyán)
桃李爭妍 / 桃李争妍
桃柳爭妍 / 桃柳争妍
爭奇鬥妍 / 争奇斗妍
爭妍 / 争妍 (zhēngyán)
爭妍獻媚 / 争妍献媚
爭妍鬥奇 / 争妍斗奇
爭妍鬥豔 / 争妍斗艳 (zhēngyándòuyàn)
百花爭妍 / 百花争妍 (bǎihuāzhēngyán)
盡態極妍 / 尽态极妍
纖妍 / 纤妍
豐妍 / 丰妍
鮮妍 / 鲜妍

References

“妍”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

妍

(Hyōgai kanji)

beauty, splendor

Readings

Go-on: げん (gen)
Kan-on: げん (gen)
Kan’yō-on: けん (ken)
Kun: うつくしい (utsukushii, 妍しい)

Korean

Hanja

妍 (eumhun 고울 염 (goul yeom))

hanja form^? of 연 (“beautiful”)

Vietnamese

Han character

妍: Hán Nôm readings: ngơn

beautiful

References

Nom Foundation