髯 (rán): cheek whiskers; sideburns; long…

Meanings

1 cheek whiskers; sideburns; long beard
2 (by extension) a man with a fine beard; a bearded one

Characters

髯

rán

long beard; whiskers

Examples

三国时的关羽因髯长被称为美髯公。

Sānguó shí de Guān Yǔ yīn rán cháng bèi chēngwéi Měiránggōng.

Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms was called 'the Beautiful Beard' for his long whiskers.

老学究捋了捋白髯，笑着摇了摇头。

Lǎo xuéjiū lǚ le lǚ bái rán, xiào zhe yáo le yáo tóu.

The old scholar stroked his white whiskers and shook his head with a smile.

京剧舞台上，飘逸的长髯象征智将良臣。

Jīngjù wǔtái shàng, piāoyì de cháng rán xiàngzhēng zhì jiàng liáng chén.

On the Peking-opera stage, a long flowing beard signals a wise general or seasoned minister.

Tips

usage

rán originally named the long cheek-whiskers extending below the jaw, but in modern usage it generally refers to any full beard, especially a long, flowing, dignified one. Key compounds: 美髯 (handsome beard), 美髯公 (the 'Beautiful Beard' — Guan Yu's epithet in Three Kingdoms), 虬髯 (curly thick beard, associated with the Tang martial-arts story 《虬髯客传》), 白髯 (white beard of an old sage).

culture

In Peking opera, the type of 髯口 (stage beard) tells you the character's age and rank at a glance: a long white 髯 marks a venerable elder; a black 髯 a man in his prime; a thick 虬髯 (curly) a bold warrior or bandit chief. Knowing the beard saves you a programme note.

Components

radical

髟 biāo

long flowing hair (radical)

Top long-hair radical (Kangxi #190) — pictograph of streaming hair. Marks 髯 as a body-hair word, alongside 髭 (moustache), 髻 (bun), 鬓 (temple hair).

phonetic

冉 rǎn

supplying the sound; (originally a picture of drooping hair / fur)

Bottom phonetic 冉 — exact sound match apart from tone (rǎn → rán). 冉 in oracle bone form pictured drooping hair or fur, so it doubles as a semantic hint: hair drooping from the cheeks. The same phonetic appears in 苒 (luxuriant), 染 (dye).