延 (yán) is a Chinese character meaning “to extend”. It is written from 廴 (long stride radical) and 丿 (left-falling stroke) and 止 (stop), one enclosing the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “to extend; to postpone”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
廴 + 丿 + 止
Enclosing structure
Structure from: Kangxi radical assignment 廴部 (U+5EF6) plus hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 six-stroke modern glyph inspection: strokes 5-6 trace 廴, stroke 1 is the 丿 above, strokes 2-4 form the 止 outline (its final 丨一 written as one 竖折)
Memory aid
A foot stops (止) under a short sweep (丿), but the long stride (廴) underneath keeps pulling it forward — the stop gets stretched out, delayed, extended (延).
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 延长yán chángto extend; to lengthen; to prolong延 = yán
- 延期yán qīto postpone; to defer; to put off to a later date延 = yán
- 延伸yán shēnto extend; to stretch out (of a road, line or idea)延 = yán
- 拖延tuō yánto delay; to procrastinate延 = yán
Go deeper
All readings
to extend; to postpone
to extend; to prolong; to stretch out in time or length; to postpone; to delay
在时间或长度上拉长、接续下去；也指往后推迟。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 延长yán chángto extend; to lengthen; to prolong延 = yán
- 延期yán qīto postpone; to defer; to put off to a later date延 = yán
- 延伸yán shēnto extend; to stretch out (of a road, line or idea)延 = yán
- 拖延tuō yánto delay; to procrastinate延 = yán
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 延 mean?
延 (yán) means to extend; to prolong; to stretch out in time or length; to postpone; to delay.
How do you pronounce 延?
It is pronounced yán.
What parts is 延 made of?
廴 (long stride radical) and 丿 (left-falling stroke) and 止 (stop), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: Kangxi radical assignment 廴部 (U+5EF6) plus hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 six-stroke modern glyph inspection: strokes 5-6 trace 廴, stroke 1 is the 丿 above, strokes 2-4 form the 止 outline (its final 丨一 written as one 竖折). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 延 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 延?
廴. 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 延?
Common ones are 延长 and 延期. The reading of 延 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.