端砚

端硯

Duānyàn

noun

Measure Word

一方端砚 fāng

Meanings

1 Duan ink-stone (from Duanxi, Guangdong)
2 Duan stone

Characters

Duan (place name)

Examples

端砚是中国四大名砚之首。

Duānyàn shì Zhōngguó sì dà míng yàn zhī shǒu.

Duan ink-stones are the foremost of China's four great ink-stones.

一方好的端砚能值几十万。

Yì fāng hǎo de Duānyàn néng zhí jǐshí wàn.

A good Duan ink-stone can be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Tips

culture

Quarried since the Tang dynasty from Duanxi (端溪) in Zhaoqing (肇庆), Guangdong. Prized for its fine-grained stone that grinds ink smoothly without wearing the brush. Collectors look for 'eyes' (石眼, natural mineral inclusions) — particularly 活眼 (live eyes) with concentric rings — as marks of quality and rarity.

Stroke Order

端 duān

砚 yàn