宴 (yàn): (bound form) feast, repose
宴 (yàn) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) feast.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 妟 (structural). It ranks #2108 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 宴 a woman 女 cooking food 日 for a house 宀 banquet. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).
Definitions
- (bound form) feast
- repose
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA woman 女 cooking food 日 for a house 宀 banquet
Decomposition: ⿱宀妟 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 宴 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 宴
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 晚宴 | wǎn yàn | banquet |
| 盛宴 | shèng yàn | feast |
| 婚宴 | hūn yàn | wedding reception |
| 宴席 | yàn xí | banquet |
| 午宴 | wǔ yàn | lunch banquet |
| 赴宴 | fù yàn | to attend a banquet |
| 家宴 | jiā yàn | dinner party held in one's home |
| 宴会厅 | yàn huì tīng | ballroom |
| 酒宴 | jiǔ yàn | feast |
| 国宴 | guó yàn | state banquet |
| 设宴 | shè yàn | to host a banquet |
| 宴请 | yàn qǐng | to entertain (for dinner) |
| 卡宴 | kǎ yàn | Cayenne, capital of French Guiana |
| 喜宴 | xǐ yàn | wedding banquet |
| 欢宴 | huān yàn | feast |
宴 appears in 33 compound words: 24 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 9 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 宴 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
了解宴字的来源，有助于理解中国文化。
le xiè yàn zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .
Understanding the origin of the character "宴" (yàn) helps to comprehend Chinese culture.
访美前夜宴蓝委 卢秀燕定调“友美睦陆”
fǎng měi qián yè yàn lán wěi 卢 xiù yān dìng diào yǒu měi mù lù
On the eve of the visit to the United States, Lu Xiuyan set the tone of "friendship and beauty"
史迹保护团体要求白宫宴会厅工程喊停 美法官驳回
shǐ jì bǎo hù tuán tǐ yāo qiú bái gōng yàn huì tīng gōng chéng hǎn tíng měi fǎ guān bó huí
Historic site protection groups called for the White House ballroom project to be halted, but the US judge rejected it
米兰冬奥闭幕式今夜登场 冰雪盛宴落幕维罗纳
mǐ lán dōng ào bì mù shì jīn yè dēng chǎng bīng xuě shèng yàn luò mù wéi luó nà
The closing ceremony of the Milan Winter Olympics debuted tonight, and the ice and snow feast came to an end in Verona
大巨蛋影厅变喜宴场 280人看完电影开饭
dà jù dàn yǐng tīng biàn xǐ yàn chǎng 2 8 0 rén kàn wán diàn yǐng kāi fàn
The theater hall of the Grand Dome turned into a banquet for 280 people to start eating after watching the movie
...走基层)福建屏南:古桥“万安”横碧水 乡宴“..
. . . zǒu jī céng ) fú jiàn bǐng nán : gǔ qiáo wàn ān héng bì shuǐ xiāng yàn . .
... Go to the grassroots level) Pingnan, Fujian: Guqiao "Wan'an" Hengbi Water Township Banquet":
他们昨晚设宴招待了我们。
Tāmen zuówǎn shè yàn zhāodài le wǒmen.
They entertained us at dinner last night.
在江户时代赏月的宴会非常受欢迎。
Zài Jiānghù shídài shǎngyuè de yànhuì fēicháng shòuhuānyíng.
In the Edo period, moon-viewing parties were very popular.
婚姻的长度与婚宴的花费负相关。
Hūnyīn de chángdù yǔ hūnyàn de huāfèi fù xiāngguān.
The length of a marriage is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding.
上海人结婚，有的人家办酒宴场面很大。
Shànghǎi rén jiéhūn, yǒude rénjia bàn jiǔyàn chǎngmiàn hěn dà.
Some Shanghainese hold large banquets when they get married.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 宴 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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