lián
adjective #27,204

Meanings

  1. 1 incorruptible
  2. 2 honest
  3. 3 inexpensive
  4. 4 cheap

Examples

Zhèwèi guānyuán yǐ lián zhùchēng.
This official is known for his incorruptibility.
Wùměijiàlián de shāngpǐn hěn shòu xiāofèizhě huānyíng.
Goods that are high quality and cheap are very popular with consumers.

Tips

culture
is one of the four social virtues in classical Chinese ethics: 礼义廉耻 (lǐ yì lián chǐ) — propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. It remains central to Chinese political discourse on anti-corruption.
usage
alone is literary and used in formal/written contexts. In everyday speech, 便宜 (piányí) is more common for 'cheap/inexpensive', while 廉洁 (liánjié) is standard for 'incorruptible'.

Components

radical
广 yǎn
shelter; roof radical
广 is the shelter/eave radical depicting an open-fronted building. In it originally referred to the corner edge of a hall — a place where moral uprightness was on display. From "sharp corner" came "incorruptible, upright," and later "low-priced."
phonetic
jiān
simultaneous; combine
supplies the sound, drifting from jiān to lián (a j-/l- swap attested in old Chinese). pictures a hand holding two stalks of grain together. No semantic role in ; pure phonetic. Same series in lián, lián (sickle).

Stroke Order

lián