How to Write 唅 (hán) — Meaning “To hold in the mouth.”

Imagine a person holding a candy (口) in their mouth while saying 'hán' — the sound of holding something. The right side 含 looks like a mouth with a lid, reinforcing the idea of keeping something inside.

Be careful with the right side 含: it starts with a downward stroke (丿) followed by a horizontal line and then a dot. The bottom part of 含 has a small mouth (口) which should be narrower than the left mouth radical. Avoid making the left 口 too big or too square.

唅 (hán) means to hold in the mouth, while 呢 (ne) is a modal particle often used in questions, and 呣 (m̄ or m̀) is used to express thinking or agreement. Visually, 呢 adds a 'corpse' radical on top of 尼, and 呣 is made of 口 and 毋 — they all share the mouth radical but have different phonetic parts and meanings.

唅 is quite rare in modern Chinese and is not in the HSK vocabulary list. It appears in phrases like 唅着 (holding in the mouth) or 唅笑 (smiling with closed lips), mostly in literary or descriptive contexts rather than daily conversation.

Common words containing 唅 include: 唅着 (hán zhe) — Holding in the mouth.; 唅一口 (hán yī kǒu) — To take a mouthful.; 唅笑 (hán xiào) — To smile with the mouth closed..