鸢 (yuān) · kite (bird of prey), small hawk

Meanings

1 kite (bird of prey)
2 small hawk

Characters

鸢

yuān

kite (hawk); old name for paper kite

Examples

HSK 5

纸鸢是中国古代的玩具。

Zhǐ yuān shì Zhōngguó gǔdài de wánjù.

The paper kite is an ancient Chinese toy.

HSK 7-9

天上有一只鸢在盘旋。

Tiānshàng yǒu yī zhī yuān zài pánxuán.

There is a kite circling in the sky.

Tips

culture

鸢 originally means a hawk-like bird. In classical Chinese, 纸鸢 ('paper kite') is the older literary term for the toy kite - modern speech mostly uses 风筝 instead. The famous line 鸢飞戾天 ('the kite soars to heaven') from Wu Jun's 《与朱元思书》 evokes worldly ambition.

memory

Phonetic radical 弋 (yì, 'shoot with arrow') sits over 鸟 (bird) - picture an archer shooting at a hawk to remember the reading yuān.

Components

radical

鸟 niǎo

bird

Bottom 鸟 - the simplified form of 鳥, the indexing bird radical. Anchors 鸢 in the raptor family with 鹰 (eagle), 雕 (hawk), 鹞 (sparrowhawk), 鹫 (vulture). 鸢 specifically names the kite, a small hovering hawk that hangs almost motionless in updrafts - the very inspiration behind the soaring paper-kite toy that shares its name.

phonetic

弋 yì

tethered arrow

Top 弋 supplies the sound - yì drifting to yuān through historical phonetic shift. 弋 pictures a small arrow with a string trailing behind, used in classical 'stringed-arrow' hunting to bring down birds without losing the prey. The image suits 鸢: kites were a favourite target of the technique, and the children's paper-kite toy was called 纸鸢 in classical times.