言 (yán) is a Chinese character meaning “words”. It is written from 亠 (lid) and 二 (two) and 口 (mouth), and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “speech; words”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亠 + 二 + 口
Top–middle–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+8A00 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (7 strokes: 点 / 长横 / 横 / 横 / 口)
Memory aid
A mouth (口) at the bottom, two lines (二) rising above it, capped by a lid (亠). Every one of those parts is really in this character: sound coming up out of a mouth — that is speech.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 语言yǔ yánlanguage言 = yán
- 方言fāng yándialect言 = yán
- 讳言huì yánto be reluctant to speak of; to avoid mentioning言 = yán
- 大言不惭dà yán bù cánto boast shamelessly; to talk big without blushing言 = yán
- 诺言nuò yána promise; one's word言 = yán
- 谎言huǎng yánlie; falsehood言 = yán
Go deeper
All readings
speech
words; speech; to say; to speak
话；说出来的话。也作动词，表示说。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 语言yǔ yánlanguage言 = yán
- 方言fāng yándialect言 = yán
- 讳言huì yánto be reluctant to speak of; to avoid mentioning言 = yán
- 大言不惭dà yán bù cánto boast shamelessly; to talk big without blushing言 = yán
- 诺言nuò yána promise; one's word言 = yán
- 谎言huǎng yánlie; falsehood言 = yán
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 言 mean?
言 (yán) means words; speech; to say; to speak.
How do you pronounce 言?
It is pronounced yán.
What parts is 言 made of?
亠 (lid) and 二 (two) and 口 (mouth). The recorded source is: Unicode U+8A00 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (7 strokes: 点 / 长横 / 横 / 横 / 口). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 言 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 言?
言. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 言?
Common ones are 语言 and 方言. The reading of 言 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.