莲 (lián): lotus

Measure Word

一朵莲 duǒ

Meanings

1 lotus
2 water lily

Characters

莲

lián

lotus

Examples

池塘里开满了莲花。

Chítáng lǐ kāi mǎn le liánhuā.

The pond was full of blooming lotus flowers.

莲子可以用来煮汤。

Liánzǐ kěyǐ yònglái zhǔ tāng.

Lotus seeds can be used to make soup.

出淤泥而不染是形容莲的名句。

Chūyūní'érbùrǎn shì xíngróng lián de míng jù.

'Rising from mud unstained' is a famous line describing the lotus.

Tips

culture

The lotus is deeply symbolic in Chinese culture, representing purity and integrity. The phrase 出淤泥而不染 (rising from the mud unstained) from Zhou Dunyi's essay is one of the most quoted lines in Chinese literature.

usage

莲 appears in many compounds: 莲花 (liánhuā, lotus flower), 莲子 (liánzǐ, lotus seed), 莲藕 (lián'ǒu, lotus root). All parts of the lotus plant are used in Chinese cooking and medicine.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant (top radical)

Top grass radical — three quick strokes for sprouting plants. The semantic anchor here: the lotus is an aquatic flowering plant, the standard symbol of purity in Buddhist and Confucian imagery. Indexes 莲 in the botanical family with 花 flower, 草 grass, 茶 tea, 菊 chrysanthemum.

phonetic

连 lián

to connect; to link

Bottom 连 supplies the sound lián with no drift, identical pinyin. 连 itself depicts a chariot moving on a road (车 + 辶) and means 'to connect, link in a chain.' Adds a faint semantic flavor here too — lotus pads grow in linked, overlapping rings on a pond surface, each connected to the next by their stems.