酸 (suān) · sour; tart; acidic

Meanings

1 sour; tart; acidic
2 aching; sore (of muscles)

Characters

酸

suān

sour; aching; jealous

Examples

HSK 4

跑完步腿很酸。

Pǎo wán bù tuǐ hěn suān.

My legs are sore after running.

HSK 4

酸甜苦辣都尝过了。

Suān-tián-kǔ-là dōu cháng guò le.

I've experienced all the ups and downs of life.

HSK 6

这个柠檬太酸了。

Zhège níngméng tài suān le.

This lemon is too sour.

Tips

culture

酸甜苦辣 (sour, sweet, bitter, spicy) is a common idiom meaning 'all of life's experiences', both good and bad.

usage

酸 also means 'jealous/envious' in colloquial speech: 你酸了吧 (you're jealous, aren't you?). This slang usage is very common online.

Components

radical

酉 yǒu

wine vessel

Left wine-vessel radical - pictograph of a tall narrow-necked jar used for fermenting wine and vinegar. Anchors 酸 in the fermented-liquid family alongside 醋 (vinegar), 醉 (drunk), 酒 (alcohol), 酱 (sauce), 醇 (mellow wine). Sourness is the taste of fermentation gone past its peak, hence the wine-jar radical.

phonetic

夋 qūn

to retreat (here phonetic)

Right 夋 supplies the sound - qūn drifted to suān through Old Chinese sibilant alternation. Same phonetic core in 俊 (handsome), 峻 (steep), 骏 (fine horse), 竣 (complete). 夋 itself is rare standalone today; in 酸 the role is purely phonetic.