Where 眼 comes from
eye
- Meaning part
- 目 (“eye”)
- Sound part
- 艮 (“one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦”)
How to write 眼 (yǎn, “eye”)
眼 (yǎn), an HSK 2 character, means “eye”, “a look” and “small hole”. It pairs a meaning part, 目 (“eye”), with a sound part, 艮 (“one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦”). On its own it is an HSK 5 word; it also forms 眼睛 (“eye”), 眼前 (“before one's eyes”) and 眼镜 (“spectacles”). Japanese reads it gan, “eyeball”, as a JLPT N1 kanji.
- Pinyin
- yǎn
- Strokes
- 11
- HSK
- 2
- Radical
- 目 (“eye”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
As a left-right character it splits into 目 (“eye”, the radical), strokes 1–5; 艮 (“one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦”), strokes 6–11, written the left part first.
- top leftdownwards
- top leftrightwards → downwards
- leftrightwards
- leftrightwards
- bottom leftrightwards
- toprightwards → downwards
- toprightwards
- centerrightwards
- topdownwards → up and right
- rightdownwards → down and left
- centerdown and right → rightwards
Japanese and Chinese
The two models differ in shape, so our comparison does not claim an order; compare the numbered frames yourself (11 strokes in Japanese, 11 strokes in Chinese).
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| yǎn third tone | eye; (often used with 一 (yī)) a look; a glance; small hole; (bound form) salient point; classifier for wells, cave-dwellings etc | — | 眼睛 眼前 眼镜 眼泪 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 2
- 2021 standard
- level 2
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 384 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 眼
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 眼 | yǎn | eye; (often used with 一 (yī)) a look HSK 5 |
| 眼睛 | yǎnjing | eye HSK 2 |
| 眼前 | yǎnqián | before one's eyes; now HSK 4 |
| 眼镜 眼鏡 | yǎnjìng | spectacles; eyeglasses HSK 4 |
| 眼泪 眼淚 | yǎnlèi | tear; teardrop HSK 5 |
| 眼看 | yǎnkàn | soon; in a moment HSK 6 |
| 眼光 | yǎnguāng | gaze; insight HSK 6 |
| 字眼 | zìyǎn | wording HSK 7-9 |
| 眼下 | yǎnxià | now; at present HSK 7-9 |
| 眼红 眼紅 | yǎnhóng | to covet; envious HSK 7-9 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 2, in list order: