淹 (yān): to flood, to submerge, to drown
淹 (yān) is a Chinese character meaning “to flood.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 奄 (phonetic). It ranks #2472 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 淹 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- to flood
- to submerge
- to drown
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 淹 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 淹
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 淹死verb | yān sǐ | to drown |
| 淹头搭脑 | yān tóu dā nǎo | listless |
| 淹水verb | yān shuǐ | to be flooded |
| 淹留 | yān liú | to stay for a long period |
| 淹博 | yān bó | widely read |
| 淹灭 | yān miè | to submerge |
| 淹盖 | yān gài | to submerge |
| 范仲淹 | fàn zhòng yān | Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), Song dynasty scholar and politician, author of On Yueyang Tower 岳陽樓記|岳阳楼记 |
| 淹灌 | yān guàn | basin irrigation (e.g. paddy fields) |
淹 appears in 10 compound words: 90 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 0 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 淹 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
孩子们喜欢在清澈的淹边玩耍，捉小鱼小虾。
hái zǐ men xǐ huān zài qīng 澈 de yān biān wán shuǎ , zhuō xiǎo yú xiǎo xiā .
Children love to play in the clear shallows, catching little fish and shrimp.
雨弹狂炸!竹县峨眉北埔淹水 消防员紧急撤离6户15人
yǔ dàn kuáng zhà ! zhú xiàn 峨 méi běi bù yān shuǐ xiāo fáng yuán jǐn jí chè lí 6 hù 1 5 rén
Torrential rain! Flooding in Emei and Beipu, Hsinchu County; firefighters evacuate 15 people from 6 households
...报狂响!苗栗议员参选人惊醒家变成小河“水淹脚踝”
. . . bào kuáng xiǎng ! miáo 栗 yì yuán cān xuǎn rén jīng xǐng jiā biàn chéng xiǎo hé shuǐ yān jiǎo 踝
...Alarm bells ringing! Miaoli council candidate wakes up to find home turned into a stream, with water up to his ankles
...oogle地图被吓到!第一次看到满满的“淹水警报”
. . . o o g l e dì tú bèi hè dào ! dì yī cì kàn dào mǎn mǎn de yān shuǐ jǐng bào
...Google Maps gave me a scare! It was the first time I saw so many "flood alerts"
夏威夷水坝恐溃堤逾4千人急撤 洪水淹浸街道车辆
xià wēi yí shuǐ bà kǒng kuì dī yú 4 qiān rén jí chè hóng shuǐ yān jìn jiē dào chē liàng
Over 4,000 Evacuated as Hawaii Dam Faces Risk of Breach; Floodwaters Submerge Streets and Vehicles
Xbox新执行长上任!玩家忧AI淹没游戏...总裁喊:不允许糟糕AI
X b o x xīn zhí háng cháng shàng rèn ! wán jiā yōu A I yān méi yóu xì . . . zǒng cái hǎn : bù yǔn xǔ zāo gāo A I
Xbox's new CEO is here! Players are worried about AI flooding the game... The president shouted: No bad AI allowed
海啸席卷稻田, 淹没了城镇。
Hǎixiào xíjuǎn dàotián, yānmò le chéngzhèn.
Tsunamis swept through rice fields and flooded the towns.
有人把她淹死在浴缸里。
Yǒurén bǎ tā yānsǐ zài yùgāng lǐ.
Somebody had drowned her in the bathtub.
由于全球气候变暖，城市可能被完全地淹没。
Yóuyú quánqiúqìhòubiànnuǎn, chéngshì kěnéng bèi wánquán de yānmò.
Due to global warming, cities could be completely submerged.
汤姆差点在河里淹死了。
Tāngmǔ chàdiǎn zài hé lǐ yānsǐ le.
Tom almost drowned in the river.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 淹 (yān) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 淹?
What are the components of 淹?
What are common words containing 淹?
What characters sound the same as 淹 (yān)?
Is 淹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 淹 with real-time feedback
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