猿 (yuán): ape
猿 (yuán) is a Chinese character meaning “ape.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 犭 (semantic) and 袁 (phonetic). It ranks #3050 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 猿 animal. Its radical form 犭 (dog) appears in many related characters such as 狗 (gǒu, dog), 猫 (māo, cat), 猜 (cāi, to guess).
Definitions
- ape
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 猿 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 猿人 | yuán rén | apeman |
| 人猿 | rén yuán | anthropoid ape |
| 猿猴noun | yuán hóu | apes and monkeys |
| 长臂猿noun | cháng bì yuán | gibbon |
| 类人猿noun | lèi rén yuán | hominid |
| 心猿意马 | xīn yuán yì mǎ | lit. heart like a frisky monkey, mind like a cantering horse (idiom) |
| 南方古猿 | nán fāng gǔ yuán | Australopithecus |
| 北京猿人noun | běi jīng yuán rén | Peking ape-man |
| 程序猿noun | chéng xù yuán | (Internet slang) code monkey |
| 无尾猿 | wú wěi yuán | ape |
| 黑冠长臂猿 | hēi guān cháng bì yuán | black crested gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) |
| 猿臂 | yuán bì | arms like those of an ape — muscular, or long and dexterous |
| 玃猿 | jué yuán | legendary ape of Sichuan and Yunnan, with a penchant for carrying off girls |
| 猿玃 | yuán jué | legendary ape of Sichuan and Yunnan, with a penchant for carrying off girls |
| 笼鸟槛猿 | lóng niǎo jiàn yuán | bird in a basket, monkey in a cage (idiom) |
猿 appears in 15 compound words: 27 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 13 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 猿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 猿.
Example Sentences
当一只老鼠闯入上海动物园白颊长臂猿馆时，猴子没有试图吃掉它，或者驱赶它。
dāng yī zhī lǎo shǔ chuǎng rù shàng hǎi dòng wù yuán bái jiá cháng bì yuán guǎn shí , hóu zǐ méi yǒu shì tú chī diào tā , huò zhě qū gǎn tā .
When a mouse wandered into the white-cheeked gibbon enclosure at the Shanghai Zoo, the gibbons did not try to eat it or chase it away.
冠军作品《大象饲养猿》剧照。
guàn jūn zuò pǐn dà xiàng sì yǎng yuán jù zhào .
A still from the award-winning film *The Elephant-Rearing Ape*.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 犭 (animal) component
Homophones — Characters pronounced yuán
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 猿 (yuán) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 猿 have?
What is the radical of 猿?
What are the components of 猿?
What are common words containing 猿?
What characters sound the same as 猿 (yuán)?
Is 猿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 猿 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.