ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

盐 yán salt

How to remember 盐: 土 earth + 卜 fortune teller + 皿 dish = salt. Scooping wet earth from the shore, the fortune teller at the market dries it in a dish and sells the white crystals as salt.

  • 1,885. most frequent character
  • HSK 4
  • 10 strokes
  • Radical 皿

Component breakdown

盐 = 圤 + 皿 dish

  • 圤
    • 土 earth
    • 卜 fortune teller
  • 皿 dish
The Gushi story

Scooping wet earth from the shore, the fortune teller at the market dries it in a dish and sells the white crystals as salt.

How it is used

  • The everyday word for 'salt' - 放点盐 (fàng diǎn yán) add a little salt.
  • Usually stands alone as a noun; 食盐 (shíyán) is the formal 'table salt'.
  • The cooking-taste word 咸 (xián, salty) describes the flavor that 盐 produces.

Example sentences

  • 请在汤里加点盐。 Qǐng zài tāng li jiā diǎn yán.Please add a little salt to the soup.
  • 稍微搁点儿盐 shāowēi gē diǎnr yánput in a little salt