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

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 guī biē lèi dòngwù.

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

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.

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.

register

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).