蜿蜒 (wān yán) — to wind, to meander (of rivers, roads, paths, etc.); to wriggle, to twist (of snakes, dragons, etc.)

Definition

Written/literary verb meaning 'to wind, meander, or wriggle' — used for rivers, roads, and snakes in descriptive prose, not everyday speech.

verb
to windto meander (of rivers, roads, paths, etc.)to wriggleto twist (of snakes, dragons, etc.)

Examples

  • 蜿蜒。
    Zhè tiáo shān lù wān yán zài qún shān zhī jiān.
    This mountain path winds among the peaks.
  • 蜿蜒。
    Yì tiáo qīng chè de xiǎo xī wān yán liú guò tián yě.
    A clear stream meanders through the fields.
  • 蜿蜒。
    Nà tiáo shé wān yán zhe zuān jìn le shí fèng.
    That snake wriggled into a crack in the rocks.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

蜿wān
蜒yán

蜿 and 蜒 carry no meaning by themselves here; together they describe a winding motion.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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
虫虫chónginsect
Sound part声符shēngfú
延
延yán蜒
Same sound today

The left part 虫 shows the character belongs to words for insects, and the right part 延 tells you how it is pronounced.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.