Lesson 12 · Foundational Components

Speech: 言 / 讠

言 sits inside almost every character about talking, asking, telling, and naming — one of the most productive semantic components in the script, on par with 手 and 心 from Lesson 11. Like those two, it contracts into a narrower left-side form when it combines with other pieces. Its full form also builds on a component you already know: 口 (kǒu, "mouth"), from Lesson 1.

Your new component

言

讠 (left side)

yán

speech, words

7 strokes

Quick recall — click the card to flip it:

言 / 讠

yán — speech, words

言 is an ideogram built on 口. Wiktionary classifies 言 as 指事 (an ideogram, not a pure pictograph): it combines 口 (kǒu, "mouth") with a mark above it indicating words or sound coming out. The exact shape of that upper mark shifted across the character's history, so it's exact meaning has been lost (Wiktionary: 言)

言 becomes 讠 on the left side of a character. The same pattern flagged for 人→亻 and 水→氵 in Lesson 1, 金→钅 in Lesson 10, and 手→扌, 心→忄 in Lesson 11: same meaning, same component, a different shape reserved for the left-side position. 讠 is by far the more common of the two shapes in everyday text.

Stroke order

言 — 7 strokes

A dot and two short horizontals form the top, then the frame closes like 口 at the bottom:

言 — 7 strokes
▶ watch animated

讠 — 2 strokes

A dot, then a single rising stroke:

讠 — 2 strokes
▶ watch animated

Examples using this component

说 pairs 讠 with a phonetic partner, the same pattern as 钱 in Lesson 10 and 打/快 in Lesson 11:

说shuōto speak, to say, to explain

讠+兑=说

讠 is the semantic element; 兑 (duì, "to exchange, to redeem" today) is phonetic only. (Wiktionary: 说)

请 pairs 讠 the same way:

请qǐngplease; to request, to invite

讠+青=请

讠 is the semantic element; 青 (qīng, "blue, green" today) is phonetic only. (Wiktionary: 请)

谢 follows the same pattern:

谢xièto thank; to decline

讠+射=谢

讠 is the semantic element; 射 (shè, "to shoot" today) is phonetic only. Doubled up as 谢谢 (xièxie), it's the everyday word for "thank you." (Wiktionary: 谢)

Check your recall

言 combines 口 (mouth) with a mark meaning:

讠 is the contracted left-side form of which full character?

In 说 (讠+兑), 兑 functions as:

谢谢 (xièxie) is the everyday way to say:

Go further

Etymology sources for every character above are linked inline. For the rigorous version of any of them, see the Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters.

Out in the world: 请勿吸烟 (qǐng wù xī yān, "no smoking") is one of the most common notices in China — you can already read 请 ("please") at the front of it. 谢谢惠顾 (xièxie huìgù, "thank you for your patronage") is printed on shop doors and receipts everywhere, opening with the 谢谢 you just learned.