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援 (yuán) — to help, assist, support, or rescue; to cite, quote, or invoke

Definition

援 is a bound form meaning 'to aid / rescue' (援助) or 'to cite / quote' (援引) — it only appears in compounds, never alone. Think of it as the building-block meaning 'extend (a hand, evidence, support)'.

bound form
to helpassistsupportor rescueto citequoteor invoke

Examples

  • 援。
    Guó jì shè huì fēn fēn shēn chū yuán shǒu.
    The international community has extended a helping hand one after another.
  • 。
    Zhèng fǔ pài chū le yuán zhù wù zī.
    The government sent aid supplies.
  • 。
    Tā zài bào gào zhōng yuán yǐn le dà liàng shù jù.
    He cited a large amount of data in the report.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
爰
爰yuán援yuán
Same sound today

In 援, the left 扌 (written fully as 手) is a hand, and the right 爰 tells you how it sounds.

Appears in
Abstract Concepts

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