艳 (yàn): bright, fresh and attractive, glamorous, (bound form) amorous, romantic, (literary) to admire, to envy
艳 (yàn) is a Chinese character meaning “bright.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丰 (structural) and 色 (structural). It ranks #2068 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 艳 lush 丰 and sexy 色. Its radical form 色 (color) appears in many related characters such as 色 (sè, color).
Definitions
- bright
- fresh and attractive
- glamorous
- (bound form) amorous
- romantic
- (literary) to admire
- to envy
Etymology & Origin
ideographicLush 丰 and sexy 色
Decomposition: ⿰丰色 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 艳 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 艳
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 美艳 | měi yàn | beautiful and alluring |
| 艳福 | yàn fú | luck with women |
| 浓妆艳抹 | nóng zhuāng yàn mǒ | to apply makeup conspicuously (idiom) |
| 香艳 | xiāng yàn | alluring |
| 艳丽 | yàn lì | gorgeous |
| 艳阳天 | yàn yáng tiān | bright sunny day |
| 妖艳 | yāo yàn | pretty and flirtatious |
| 娇艳 | jiāo yàn | tender and beautiful |
| 冷艳 | lěng yàn | (of a woman) beautiful but aloof |
| 艳照 | yàn zhào | nude picture |
| 浓艳 | nóng yàn | (of colors) garish |
| 艳羡 | yàn xiàn | (literary) to admire |
| 艳情 | yàn qíng | romantic love |
| 艳红色 | yàn hóng sè | crimson |
| 艳如桃李 | yàn rú táo lǐ | lit. beautiful as peach and prune |
艳 appears in 32 compound words: 41 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 6 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 艳 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
了解艳字的来源,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 "艳" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.
...华踩街、晚会热闹非凡 各式龙队现身争奇斗艳
. . . huá cǎi jiē , wǎn huì rè nào fēi fán gè shì lóng duì xiàn shēn zhēng qí dǒu yàn
... Hua stepped on the street, the party was very lively, and all kinds of dragon teams appeared to compete for beauty
军队人大代表履职尽责巡礼丨丰艳:推动部队资金保障更加精准高效
jūn duì rén dà dài biǎo lǚ zhí jǐn zé xún lǐ 丨 fēng yàn : tuī dòng bù duì zī jīn bǎo zhàng gēng jiā jīng zhǔn gāo xiào
Military people's congress deputies perform their duties and responsibilities tour丨Fengyan: Promote more accurate and efficient financial support for the troops
台中市长提名 李艳秋:为何蓝闹到现在“结果会像抖动红绳ho...
tái zhōng shì cháng tí míng lǐ yàn qiū : wéi hé lán nào dào xiàn zài jié guǒ huì xiàng dǒu dòng hóng shéng h o . . .
Taichung Mayor Nomination Li Yanqiu: Why is Lan making trouble until now, "The result will be like shaking the red rope ho...
90年代艳星突然升“官” 获马国政府委以重任衣锦还...
9 0 nián dài yàn xīng tū rán shēng guān huò mǎ guó zhèng fǔ wěi yǐ chóng rèn yī jǐn hái . . .
In the 90s, the star was suddenly promoted to an "official" and was entrusted by the Malaysian government with an important task.
...不会生产,全靠政府买单”中国春晚机器人惊艳全球,《经济学人》为何说是“昂贵的科技泡...
. . . bù huì shēng chǎn , quán kào zhèng fǔ mǎi dān zhōng guó chūn wǎn jī qì rén jīng yàn quán qiú , jīng jì xué rén wéi hé shuō shì áng guì de kē jì pāo . . .
... It will not produce, it all depends on the government to pay for it" The Chinese Spring Festival Gala robots amazed the world, why did The Economist say that it was an "expensive technology bubble...
昨天去酒吧有艳遇吗?
Zuótiān qù jiǔbā yǒu yànyù ma?
Did you have any romantic encounter at the bar last night?
他看见色彩鲜艳的鸟、花朵和树叶。
Tā kànjiàn sècǎi xiānyàn de niǎo, huāduǒ hé shùyè.
He saw brightly-colored birds, flowers and leaves.
和这幅比起上来,那幅画的色彩鲜艳多了。
Hé zhè fú bǐqǐ shànglái, nà fú huà de sècǎi xiānyàn duō le.
The picture is colorful in contrast with this one.
Character Family
色 Radical Family — Characters sharing the color radical
Related Characters
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 艳 (yàn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 艳 and 暧?
How many strokes does 艳 have?
What is the radical of 艳?
What are the components of 艳?
What are common words containing 艳?
What characters sound the same as 艳 (yàn)?
Is 艳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 艳 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.