衍

Translingual

Han character

衍 (Kangxi radical 144, 行+3, 9 strokes, cangjie input 竹人水一弓 (HOEMN), four-corner 2110₃, composition ⿻行氵)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1108, character 35
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34033
• Dae Jaweon: page 1573, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 820, character 4
• Unihan data for U+884D

---

Chinese

simp. and trad.		衍

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 衍
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

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

	Old Chinese
愆	*kʰran
衍	*lanʔ, *lans

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *lanʔ, *lans) : semantic 行 + phonetic 水 (OC *qʰʷljilʔ, “water”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yán, yǎn (yan², yan³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄢˊ, ㄧㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): hin² / jin² / jin⁵
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): ián

---

• 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/
      
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄢˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǎn
    • Wade–Giles: yen³
    • Yale: yǎn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yean
    • Palladius: янь (janʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɛn²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: hin² / jin² / jin⁵
    • Yale: hín / yín / yíhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: hin² / jin² / jin⁵
    • Guangdong Romanization: hin² / yin² / yin⁵
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /hiːn³⁵/, /jiːn³⁵/, /jiːn¹³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ián
    • Tâi-lô: ián
    • Phofsit Daibuun: iern
    • IPA (Taipei, Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /iɛn⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /iɛn⁴¹/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /iɛn⁵⁵⁴/

---

• Middle Chinese: yenX, yenH

Rime
Character	衍	衍
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	以 (36)	以 (36)
Final (韻)	仙 (77)	仙 (77)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	以淺切	于線切
Baxter	yenX	yenH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/jiᴇnX/	/jiᴇnH/
Pan Wuyun	/jiɛnX/	/jiɛnH/
Shao Rongfen	/jænX/	/jænH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/jianX/	/jianH/
Li Rong	/iɛnX/	/iɛnH/
Wang Li	/jĭɛnX/	/jĭɛnH/
Bernard Karlgren	/i̯ɛnX/	/i̯ɛnH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yǎn	yàn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	jin5	jin6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*N-q(r)anʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*lanʔ/, /*lans/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	衍
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	yǎn
Middle Chinese	‹ yenX ›
Old Chinese	/*N-q(r)anʔ/
English	overflow
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	衍	衍
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	14376	14377
Phonetic component	衍	衍
Rime group	元	元
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	演
Old Chinese	/*lanʔ/	/*lans/

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 衍

1. overflow, spill over, spread out

---

Japanese

Kanji

衍

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• On (unclassified): えん (en)
• Kun: しく (shiku, 衍く); あまり (amari, 衍り); はびこる (habikoru, 衍る)

Compounds

• 衍字
• 敷衍

---

Korean

Hanja

衍 (eum 연 (yeon))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

衍: Hán Nôm readings: diễn

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.