衍 (yǎn): to spread; to proliferate; to m…

Meanings

1 to spread; to proliferate; to multiply
2 to develop; to elaborate; to deduce
3 superfluous; redundant (of text)

Characters

衍

yǎn

to spread; to proliferate

Examples

地球上的生命已经繁衍了数十亿年。

Dìqiú shàng de shēngmìng yǐjīng fányǎn le shùshíyì nián.

Life on this planet has proliferated for billions of years.

从这个原理可以推衍出许多推论。

Cóng zhège yuánlǐ kěyǐ tuīyǎn chū xǔduō tuīlùn.

From this principle one can deduce many corollaries.

《易经》以六十四卦来演衍天地之理。

Yìjīng yǐ liùshísì guà lái yǎnyǎn tiāndì zhī lǐ.

The Book of Changes uses sixty-four hexagrams to elaborate on cosmic patterns.

Tips

usage

yǎn lives in three modern compounds. (1) Biological spread / multiplication: 繁衍 (proliferate, propagate — of populations, species, lineages). (2) Logical / theoretical elaboration: 推衍 (deduce, derive), 演衍 (expand on, develop a theory). (3) Textual criticism: a 衍文 is a 'superfluous character' — text accidentally added by a scribe and not part of the original. The common thread is overflow: water spilling beyond its banks, life spilling into new generations, ideas spilling into consequences.

memory

Read the picture: 氵 water inside 行 (a crossroads / movement) = water flowing through channels and spreading out. From physical overflow, the sense widened to populations spreading, theories being drawn out, and stray characters spilling into a manuscript.

Components

radical

行 xíng

to walk; to go; row; line

Outer wrapping 行 (Kangxi #144, originally a four-way crossroads viewed from above) — splits left and right around the inner water radical. Supplies both the indexing radical and a movement-flavoured meaning: water flowing along channels, spreading out as it goes. Same radical heads 街 (street) and 衡 (balance).

semantic

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form)

Inner three-drop water — the side-stacking form of 水. Anchors the original meaning: water spreading out of its course. From physical overflow the character extended to biological propagation (繁衍) and intellectual elaboration (推衍).