芫

yuán / yán
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 lilac daphne (Daphne genkwa), used in Chinese herbal medicine

Examples

HSK 5
Yuán huā shì yì zhǒng xiān kāihuā hòu zhǎng yè de zhōngyào.
Daphne flower is a traditional medicinal herb that flowers before it leafs.

Tips

register
The yuán reading appears in 芫花, a medicinal daphne shrub. This is a specialist botanical and pharmacy term; the everyday reading is yán in coriander (see the primary entry).

Components

radical
艹 cǎo
grass; plant
艹 is the grass radical, marking 芫 as a herb.
phonetic
元 yuán
first; primary
元 is the phonetic. It matches the yuán reading of this character directly; in the yán reading the sound has drifted.

Stroke Order

芫 yuán