掩 (yǎn): to cover up

Meanings

1 to cover up
2 to conceal
3 to close (a door)
4 to launch a surprise attack

Characters

掩

yǎn

to cover; to conceal; to close gently

Examples

HSK 4

她用手掩住了嘴巴。

Tā yòng shǒu yǎn zhù le zuǐba.

She covered her mouth with her hand.

HSK 5

他掩上门，悄悄地走了。

Tā yǎn shàng mén, qiāoqiāo de zǒu le.

He closed the door gently and left quietly.

Tips

usage

掩 implies a gentle or partial action: 掩门 is to close a door softly (not slam), 掩面 is to cover one's face. For forceful covering, use 盖 instead.

memory

掩耳盗铃 - 'cover ears while stealing a bell' - is a famous idiom meaning to deceive oneself. A great way to remember 掩 = cover/conceal.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left hand radical - side-form of 手 (Kangxi #64). Anchors 掩 in the great family of hand-action verbs: 拿 (take), 推 (push), 拍 (clap), 抓 (grab), 抱 (hold). 掩 specifically marks a covering/closing motion of the hand - you cover your mouth, close a door, hide your face, all with this radical's hand.

phonetic

奄 yǎn

sudden; cover

Right 奄 supplies the sound - yǎn unchanged. 奄 itself pictures a person 大 with a covering, meaning 'to cover suddenly, envelop'. So the semantics align: hand 扌 + cover 奄 = to cover with the hand. Same phonetic family: 庵 nunnery, 俺 I (dialectal), 淹 submerge - all share the yǎn / ān reading.