盐 (yán): salt, CL:粒

盐 (yán) is a Chinese character meaning “salt.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 圤 (structural) and 皿 (structural). It ranks #1864 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. salt
  2. CL:粒

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 盐 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
盐湖城proper-nounyán hú chéngSalt Lake City, capital of Utah
盐水nounyán shuǐsalt water
盐酸nounyán suānhydrochloric acid
椒盐nounjiāo yánseasoning mix of Sichuan pepper powder and salt
盐分nounyán fènsalt content
硝酸盐nounxiāo suān yánnitrate
盐巴nounyán bātable salt
食盐nounshí yánedible salt
硫酸盐nounliú suān yánsulfate
硅酸盐nounguī suān yánsilicate
盐都yán dūsee 鹽都區|盐都区
岩盐yán yánrock salt
亚硝酸盐nounyà xiāo suān yánnitrite
盐碱yán jiǎnsaline and alkaline (earth)
盐碱地nounyán jiǎn dìsaline soil
92
Total compounds
48
As first character
41
As last character
11
As middle character

盐 appears in 92 compound words: 48 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 盐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

酸suān
0.65211,920 co-occurrences
淮huái
0.4951,490 co-occurrences
芦lú
0.471482 co-occurrences
卤lǔ
0.452218 co-occurrences
碳tàn
0.451944 co-occurrences
溶róng
0.445928 co-occurrences
矿kuàng
0.438988 co-occurrences
湖hú
0.4313,048 co-occurrences
椒jiāo
0.423218 co-occurrences
贩fàn
0.419226 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

柴米油盐cháimǐyóuyánHSK 6+

alternative form of 柴米油鹽醬醋茶 /柴米油盐酱醋茶 (chái mǐ yóu yán jiàng cù chá)

phrase
凌杂米盐líng zá mǐ yánHSK 4+

disordered and fragmentary

phrase
生理盐水shēnglǐ yánshuǐHSK 4+

normal saline (solution)

noun
亚硝酸盐yàxiāosuānyán

nitrite

noun
油盐酱醋yóuyánjiàngcùHSK 6+

oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar; cooking ingredients; daily necessities

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习盐字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí yán zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character for "salt" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

...燕舞”发展史 微短剧《爱在风起燕舞时》在盐城开机

. . . yān wǔ fā zhǎn shǐ wēi duǎn jù ài zài fēng qǐ yān wǔ shí zài yán chéng kāi jī

...The History of "Swallows in Flight" The micro-series *Love in the Time of Swallows in Flight* Begins Filming in Yancheng

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

盐水蜂炮下周一登场 黄伟哲吁看蜂炮还要看灯...

yán shuǐ fēng pào xià zhōu yī dēng chǎng huáng wěi zhé xū kàn fēng pào hái yāo kàn dēng . . .

The saltwater bee cannon will debut next Monday Huang Weizhe calls for the bee cannon to look at the light...

商業周刊Feb 2026

2026盐水蜂炮:施放流程、遶境路线、防护装备、交...

2 0 2 6 yán shuǐ fēng pào : shī fàng liú chéng , 遶 jìng lù xiàn , fáng hù zhuāng bèi , jiāo . . .

2026 Saltwater Bee Cannon: Casting Process, Route, Protective Equipment, Delivery...

LtnFeb 2026

...三老爷宫百变12花神 化身污水孔盖、生日盐御守

. . . sān lǎo yé gōng bǎi biàn 1 2 huā shén huà shēn wū shuǐ kǒng gài , shēng rì yán yù shǒu

... The three old masters of the palace are changeable 12 flower gods incarnated as sewage hole covers and birthday salt amulets

百度新闻Feb 2026

大年初一暖心事!流浪28年,盐城阜宁东站派出所助流..

dà nián chū yī nuǎn xīn shì ! liú làng 2 8 nián , yán chéng 阜 nìng dōng zhàn pài chū suǒ zhù liú . .

Heartwarming on the first day of the Lunar New Year! After 28 years of wandering, the Yancheng Funing East Station Police Station helped the flow:

Tatoeba

按口味加盐和胡椒粉。

àn kǒuwèi jiā yán hé hújiāofěn.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tatoeba

请把盐和胡椒粉拿给我。

Qǐng bǎ yán hé hújiāofěn ná gěi wǒ.

Pass me the salt and pepper, please.

Tatoeba

她经常把糖和盐搞错。

Tā jīngcháng bǎ táng hé yán gǎocuò.

She frequently gets sugar and salt mixed up.

Tatoeba

盐可以帮助保存食物避免腐烂。

Yán kěyǐ bāngzhù bǎocún shíwù bìmiǎn fǔlàn.

Salt helps to preserve food from decay.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 盐 (yán) mean in Chinese?
盐 (yán) primarily means "salt." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1864 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 盐 have?
盐 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 盐?
The radical associated with 盐 is 皿 (dish). This radical appears in many characters related to dish.
What are the components of 盐?
盐 is composed of: 圤 (structural), 皿 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱圤皿 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 盐?
Common words with 盐 include: 盐湖城 (yán hú chéng, "Salt Lake City, capital of Utah"); 盐水 (yán shuǐ, "salt water"); 盐酸 (yán suān, "hydrochloric acid"); 椒盐 (jiāo yán, "seasoning mix of Sichuan pepper powder and salt"); 盐分 (yán fèn, "salt content"). There are over 92 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 盐 (yán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yán: 眼 (eye), 言 (words), 严 (tight (closely sealed)), 验 (to test, to verify), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 盐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 盐 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 盐 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.