liǎn
noun HSK 2 #636

Measure Word

zhāng

Meanings

  1. 1 face

Characters

Examples

HSK 2
Tā de liǎn hóng le.
Her face turned red.
HSK 2
Xǐ liǎn yǐhòu wǒmen jiù chūmén.
We'll go out after washing our faces.
HSK 6
Tā liǎn shàng yǒu xiàoróng.
There is a smile on his face.

Tips

culture
面子 ("face") is a core concept in Chinese culture - it represents social reputation and dignity. 丢脸 means to lose face, and 给面子 means to give someone face/respect. Many social interactions are governed by this concept.

Components

radical
ròu
flesh; meat
Meat-flesh radical on the left - visually identical to (moon) but a separate semantic component meaning flesh/body. Indexes in the body-parts family alongside (chest), (foot), (leg), (belly), (brain), (liver). The face is a fleshy body part, hence ⺼ rather than the moon-.
phonetic
qiān
all; together
Right (simplified from ) supplies the sound - qiān drifted to liǎn through a regular Old Chinese alternation. Same phonetic in (inspect), (test), (danger), (sword). Pure phonetic loan; the 'all together' meaning of contributes nothing semantic to 'face.'

Stroke Order

liǎn