雁 (yàn): wild goose

雁 (yàn) is a Chinese character meaning “wild goose.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (structural) and 倠 (structural). It ranks #2453 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 雁 bird. Its radical form 隹 (short-tailed bird) appears in many related characters such as 难 (nán, difficult (to...)), 集 (jí, to gather), 雄 (xióng, male).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 隹 short-tailed bird12 strokesFrequency #2453厂 structural 倠 structural

Definitions

wild goose

Etymology & Origin

雁

pictophoneticbird

Decomposition: ⿸厂倠 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Components:厂structural 倠structural

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
沉鱼落雁	chén yú luò yàn	variant of 沉魚落雁\|沉鱼落雁[chen2 yu2 luo4 yan4]
大雁	dà yàn	wild goose
雪雁	xuě yàn	(bird species of China) snow goose (Anser caerulescens)
加拿大雁	jiā ná dà yàn	(bird species of China) cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii)
小白额雁	xiǎo bái é yàn	(bird species of China) lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)
雁山区	yàn shān qū	Yanshan, a district of Guilin City 桂林市[Gui4 lin2 Shi4], Guangxi
雁过拔毛	yàn guò bá máo	lit. to grab feathers from a flying goose
红胸黑雁	hóng xiōng hēi yàn	(bird species of China) red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis)
大雁塔	dà yàn tǎ	Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an
小雁塔	xiǎo yàn tǎ	Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an
白额雁	bái é yàn	(bird species of China) greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons)
雁江区	yàn jiāng qū	Yanjiang district of Ziyang city 資陽市\|资阳市[Zi1 yang2 shi4], Sichuan
雁塔区	yàn tǎ qū	Yanta District of Xi’an 西安市[Xi1 an1 Shi4], Shaanxi
白颊黑雁	bái jiá hēi yàn	(bird species of China) barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis)
雁荡山	yàn dàng shān	Yandang mountains, famous scenic area in southeast Zhejiang

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

雁 appears in 31 compound words: 39 as the first character, 52 as the last, and 10 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 雁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

荡dàng

0.491918 co-occurrences

栖qī

0.442786 co-occurrences

门mén

0.4193,858 co-occurrences

翅chì

0.418666 co-occurrences

塔tǎ

0.3993,210 co-occurrences

鸣míng

0.385318 co-occurrences

秋qiū

0.3671,194 co-occurrences

孤gū

0.366564 co-occurrences

颊jiá

0.36136 co-occurrences

宾bīn

0.356546 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

沉鱼落雁chényúluòyànHSK 7+

extremely beautiful; drop-dead gorgeous

phrase

雁过拔毛yànguò bámáoHSK 7+

to be very greedy (such that every tasks completed by that person will have some money embezzled)

phrase

鱼沉雁杳yúchényànyǎoHSK 7+

See 雁杳魚沉 /雁杳鱼沉 (yànyǎoyúchén).

phrase

Showing 3 of 4 idioms containing 雁.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解雁字的来源，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 "wild geese formation" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

The Beijing NewsApr 2026

雁栖湖上新“山水飞花令”,游客假日玩转5项...

yàn qī hú shàng xīn shān shuǐ fēi huā lìng , yóu kè jiǎ rì wán zhuǎn 5 xiàng . . .

Hk01.comFeb 2026

人母何雁诗“股惑”游越南着比坚尼晒日光浴一转身...

rén mǔ hé yàn shī gǔ huò yóu yuè nán zhe bǐ jiān ní shài rì guāng yù yī zhuǎn shēn . . .

Mother He Yanshi "Confused" Traveled to Vietnam and Sunbathed in a Bikini and turned around...

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 雁 (yàn) mean in Chinese?

雁 (yàn) primarily means "wild goose." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2453 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 雁 have?

雁 is written with 12 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 雁?

The radical associated with 雁 is 隹 (short-tailed bird). This radical appears in many characters related to short-tailed bird.

What are the components of 雁?

雁 is composed of: 厂 (structural), 倠 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂倠 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 雁?

Common words with 雁 include: 沉鱼落雁 (chén yú luò yàn, "variant of 沉魚落雁|沉鱼落雁[chen2 yu2 luo4 yan4]"); 大雁 (dà yàn, "wild goose"); 雪雁 (xuě yàn, "(bird species of China) snow goose (Anser caerulescens)"); 加拿大雁 (jiā ná dà yàn, "(bird species of China) cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii)"); 小白额雁 (xiǎo bái é yàn, "(bird species of China) lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 雁 (yàn)?

Several characters share the pronunciation yàn: 烟 (smoke), 延 (to prolong), 严 (tight (closely sealed)), 言 (words), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 雁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 雁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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雁 (yàn): wild goose

Definitions

Etymology & Origin

Stroke Order

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Strongest Collocations

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

Example Sentences

Character Family

隹 Radical Family — Characters sharing the short-tailed bird radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced yàn

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice writing 雁 with real-time feedback