How to write beautiful Yan: Yan in running script written by Zhang Hengcheng; hard-pen calligraphy by Zhang Hengcheng; Yan in running script written by Si Huiguo; Yan in running script written by Si Huiguo; Yan in running script written by Qian Peiyun
Yan is a first-level common Chinese character (commonly used character). This word first appeared in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The original meaning of "Yan" is generally believed to refer to the area between the eyebrows, commonly known as "Yintang". Later it was extended to the forehead, and then to the face. Yan also refers to the plaque in ancient times, because the position of the plaque is equivalent to the position of the forehead. In addition, Yan is also used as a color. The original meaning of "color" is face and complexion. In the Middle Ages, it began to refer to color.
Phonetic characters. The lower right part is the shape side page (xié), and the upper left side is the tone side "彦". "Page" has two pronunciations, one is pronounced yè, which is a quantifier, indicating a page of a book. One is pronounced xié, which is a noun and refers to a person’s head, which is the original meaning of the word.
Page is a pictographic character. Any word with "page" next to the shape has meaning related to the head. For example, the original meaning of "Yan" refers to an area of ??the head. Liu Zhao's "Research on the Formation of Ancient Characters" said that the component on the lower right side of the bronze inscription should be the word "face", indicating that the original meaning of this word is related to the face.
Some people say that the ancients used "Yan" as the musical note for "Yan" because "Yan" refers to a talented and virtuous person, and also means a beautiful person. The beauty of a person's face is clear eyebrows and clear eyes, so "彦" is used as a sound symbol to express understanding.
Yan, between the eyebrows, literally means the area between the eyebrows and the eyes. Duan Yucai, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, believed that the original meaning of "Yan" refers to the area between the eyebrows, commonly known as "Yintang", and changed the explanation in "Shuowen Jiezi" from "between the eyebrows" to "between the eyebrows" ".
One of the reasons he did this was to consider the word "face", which has a common meaning and refers to the area from the eyebrows to the hairline, that is, the forehead. Yang Xiong, a scholar of the Western Han Dynasty, said in "Dialect": "Yan" means "amount" in dialect.
The word "face" in the sense of "forehead" can be expanded to mean "face". The ancients were very sensitive to the color characteristics between the eyebrows, so "face" can be used to express complexion. A person's psychological feelings are often reflected on his face. Therefore, face also refers to dignity and face in an abstract sense.
For example, the face in "I have no face to see Jiangdong's elders" and "shameless". A person's face can also reflect a person's psychological and health status, which is what people usually call complexion. Complexion is a kind of color. From this, Yan also extends to hue and color.