讠

訁

jiǎnyán

radical variant

Meanings

1 simplified speech radical (variant of 言)
2 left form of the speech radical, Kangxi #149

Tips

usage

讠 on the left flags speech and communication - saying, asking, thanking, recording, debating. It is the simplified left-position form of 言; traditional script still writes the seven-stroke 訁. Two-stroke 讠 is one of the highest-yield reading shortcuts in modern Chinese. Never written alone.

history

讠 came out of the 1956 simplification reform: the traditional left-side form 訁 - itself a positional variant of 言, a pictograph of a tongue above a mouth - was cut from seven strokes to two for faster handwriting. Traditional contexts still use 訁/言 in this slot.

usage

Speech cue: 说 (speak), 话 (speech/words), 语 (language), 请 (please/request), 谢 (thank), 让 (let/yield), 认 (recognize), 记 (record).

Radical

Speech Kangxi #149

The speech radical. A compound of a tongue extending from a mouth, words coming out. Among the most productive radicals in the language, indexing every variety of saying and writing: 说, 话, 语, 请, 谢, 让, 认, 讨, 评, 议. In simplified script the left-side variant 讠 has largely replaced standalone 言 in compounds.

Forms

言 yán

Default 12 characters

讠 jiǎnyán

Left 128 characters

Used in

View all 128 →

Showing 6 of 128 · left form 讠 of 言

说 shuō

to speak; to talk; to say · to explain

说 shuì

to persuade

让 ràng

to let · to allow

谁 shéi

who · whom

话 huà

words · speech

该 gāi

should · ought to

Stroke Order