唁 (yàn): to offer condolences (for a dea…

Meanings

许多朋友听到噩耗后发来了唁电。

Xǔduō péngyou tīngdào èhào hòu fālái le yàn diàn.

Many friends sent telegrams of condolence after hearing the sad news.

他专程去殡仪馆吊唁死者家属。

Tā zhuānchéng qù bìnyíguǎn diàoyàn sǐzhě jiāshǔ.

He made a special trip to the funeral home to offer his condolences to the bereaved family.

usage

唁 specifically means to console people over a death. Common in 吊唁 (to pay condolences) and 唁电 (a telegram of condolence).

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth radical 口 on the left marks this as something spoken, here words of comfort offered to the bereaved.

phonetic

言 yán

words; speech (here phonetic-semantic)

Right side 言 (speech) supplies the sound, only a tone away from yàn, and its meaning reinforces that 唁 is an act of consoling speech.

唁 yàn