How to Write 鬳 (yàn) — Meaning “ancient cooking vessel”

Picture a tall bronze cooking tripod (鬲) sitting on a curved roof tile (瓦) — it's an odd place to cook, but this visual image connects the two parts and helps you recall that 鬳 means an ancient cooking vessel. The tile also reminds you that the vessel was often made of pottery.

Pay attention to the left side of the top component 鬲: it has a hook stroke inside the box, and the whole top part is quite wide. The bottom part 瓦 has four strokes, and a common mistake is to write the last stroke as a left-falling stroke instead of a dot—make sure it is a small dot.

While both contain 鬲, 鬳 has 瓦 (clay) on the bottom and means "ancient cooking vessel," but 融 (róng) has 虫 (insect) on the right side and means "to melt" or "to blend." In modern usage, 熔 is common, but 鬳 is extremely rare and only appears in historical or place-name contexts.

鬳 is not part of everyday vocabulary; it appears mainly in ancient texts describing bronze or pottery vessels or in place names like 鬳山 (Yanshan Mountain) and 鬳水 (Yan River). Students of classical Chinese or archaeology may encounter it, but average learners can skip this character.

Common words containing 鬳 include: 鬳山 (yàn shān) — Yanshan (name of a mountain); 鬳器 (yàn qì) — Yan vessel (ancient cooking utensil); 鬳水 (yàn shuǐ) — Yan River.