鼋 (yuán): giant soft-shelled turtle (Pelo…

Meanings

1 giant soft-shelled turtle (Pelochelys cantorii); Cantor's giant soft-shell

Characters

鼋

yuán

giant soft-shelled turtle

Examples

HSK 6

太湖岸边的鼋头渚因状似鼋首的石头而得名。

Tài Hú ànbiān de Yuántóuzhǔ yīn zhuàng sì yuán shǒu de shítou ér démíng.

Yuantouzhu Peninsula on the shore of Lake Tai is named for a rock shaped like a giant turtle's head.

HSK 7-9

鼋是极危物种，是中国最大的淡水龟鳖类动物。

Yuán shì jíwēi wùzhǒng, shì Zhōngguó zuìdà de dànshuǐ guībiē lèi dòngwù.

The giant soft-shelled turtle is a critically endangered species, the largest freshwater turtle in China.

Tips

usage

yuán names the giant soft-shelled turtle, the largest freshwater turtle native to China. The classical Mozi list 鱼鳖鼋鼍 ('fish, soft-shell turtle, giant soft-shell, alligator') pairs it with 鼍 (Yangtze alligator) as the iconic large reptile of southern Chinese waters. Compounds: 鼋鼍 (the pair, named together in classical texts), 癞头鼋 ('pock-headed yuan' - a folk name). Now critically endangered; only a handful of individuals remain alive worldwide.

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Outside zoology and a few famous place names (Yuantouzhu near Wuxi), 鼋 is rare in modern Chinese. The everyday term for soft-shelled turtle is 鳖 or 甲鱼 (used for the smaller species commonly eaten or kept).

Components

radical

黽 miǎn

frog / amphibian; reptile (radical)

Bottom amphibian / large-reptile radical (Kangxi #205). Originally a pictograph of a frog, later generalised to cover amphibians and large water-dwelling reptiles. The semantic anchor: 鼋 is a large freshwater turtle. Same radical heads 鼍 (Chinese alligator).

phonetic

元 yuán

primary; supplying the sound

Top phonetic 元 - exact sound match. The same phonetic anchors 园 (garden), 员 (member), 源 (source), 完 (complete).