吮

shǔn
verb #16,487

Meanings

  1. 1 to suck

Examples

HSK 6
Yīng'ér zài shǔnxī shǒuzhǐ.
The baby is sucking its finger.
HSK 7-9
Mìfēng shǔn zhe huāmì.
The bee is sucking nectar.

Tips

usage
吮 is literary. In everyday speech, 吸 or 嘬 are more common. 吮吸 is the standard compound form.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical - the indexing component. Carries the core meaning: 吮 names an action done with the mouth, specifically sucking. Same mouth-action family: 吃 eat, 喝 drink, 吻 kiss, 吐 spit, 含 hold in mouth. The radical announces that the right side narrows down which mouth-action is intended.
phonetic
允 yǔn
permit; consent
Right 允 supplies the sound - yǔn drifting to shǔn via the y-/sh- alternation visible across the same series (盾 shield, 钝 blunt). The 'permit' meaning of 允 doesn't enter; it is a pure sound-tag. 吮 is most often heard in 吮吸 'to suck' or 吮指 'finger-licking,' as in 吮指原味鸡 KFC's slogan-name.

Stroke Order

吮 shǔn