嵒

yán
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (archaic) rock; crag (old form of 岩)
  2. 2 an old place name in the state of Song

Examples

HSK 7-9
Xuányá shàng yǒu yí kuài jù yán.
There is a huge rock on the cliff.

Tips

history
Not used independently in modern Chinese - it is an old form of 岩 (rock, crag), preserved in classical text and as a Spring-and-Autumn place name. Today always write 岩.
memory
Three mouths 口 stacked over a mountain 山: picture jutting boulders piled on a peak - the very image of a rocky crag, the meaning kept by 岩.

Components

radical
山 shān
mountain
The mountain radical 山 at the foot places the heaped rocks on a peak, giving the full sense - a rocky crag on a mountain, exactly what 岩 means.
ideograph
品 pǐn
stacked lumps; rocks
The three boxes of 品 here are not 'goods' but three piled boulders - jagged rocks heaped up, the picture half of this crag character.

Stroke Order

嵒 yán