焉 — Chinese character
焉
yān
why? where? how?; strange; thereupon, then
- Pinyin
- yān
- Radical
- 86 ⽕ (Fire)
- Strokes
- 11
- Components
- 正 灬
- Formation
- ideographic — A bird 鳥 with a strange head
- Japanese
- 焉 as a kanji
Common words with 焉
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 心不在焉 | xīn bù zài yān | absent-minded; preoccupied |
| 语焉不详 (語焉不詳) | yǔ yān bù xiáng | to mention sth without elaborating (idiom); not giving details |
| 焉知 | yān zhī | (literary) how is one to know? |
| 于焉 (於焉) | yú yān | (classical) see 于是 (yú shì) |
| 功莫大焉 | gōng mò dà yān | no greater contribution has been made than this (idiom) |
| 有子存焉 | yǒu zǐ cún yān | I still have sons, don't I?; fig. future generations will continue the work |
| 异焉 (異焉) | yì yān | feeling surprised at sth |
English words written with 焉
焉 in the Chinese classics
Occurrences: Tao Te Ching 10 · Analects 88 · Art of War 1 · Mencius 140 · Zhuangzi 203 · Great Learning 8 · Doctrine of the Mean 27
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 2
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 15
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 17
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 23
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 25
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 30
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 34
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 60
Data: Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.