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Swallow in Chinese / Japanese...

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Swallow

yàn

yasushi

연

燕 is the single-character for the swallow (bird).

If you are a zoologist, this can refer to birds of the family Hirundinidae. Sometimes used to refer to Hirundo rustica (the barn swallow).

燕 is also a surname in China that romanizes as Yan. In fact, there were also several different Yan kingdoms in the ancient history of China (which is the origin of the surname).

Great Aspirations / Ambition

hóng hú zhī zhì

This Chinese proverb implies that having great ambitions also means that others will not understand your great expectations and ideas.

Though the actual words come from a longer saying of Confucius which goes, "The little swallows living under the eaves wouldn't understand the lofty ambitions of a swan (who flies far and wide)."

This Confucius quote has led to this idiomatic expression in China that means "think big." What you'd really be saying is "The lofty ambitions of a swan."

Note that Chinese people sometimes refer to the little swallow, as one who does not "think big" but is, instead, stuck in a rut, or just leading a mundane life. Therefore, it's a compliment to be called a swan but not a good thing to be called a swallow.

Not the results for swallow that you were looking for?

Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your swallow search...

Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese	Pronunciation Romanization	Simple Dictionary Definition
燕 see styles	yàn // yān / yan4 // yan1 yen tsubame(p);tsubakurame(ok);tsubakura(ok);tsubakuro(ok);tsubame(p) / つばめ(P);つばくらめ(ok);つばくら(ok);つばくろ(ok);ツバメ(P)	swallow (family Hirundinidae); old variant of 宴[yan4]; Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in modern Hebei and Liaoning; north Hebei; the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕 (337-370), Later Yan 後燕\|后燕 (384-409), Southern Yan 南燕 (398-410), Northern Yan 北燕 (409-436); surname Yan (1) (kana only) swallow (bird of the Hirundinidae family); martin; (2) barn swallow (Hirundo rustica); (3) (See 若い燕) younger man involved with an older woman; (given name) Yasushi; (p,s,f) Tsubame; (surname) En; (place-name) Yan (historical Chinese state) More info / calligraphy: Swallow
吞 see styles	tūn / tun1 t`un / tun gon	to swallow; to take This term is used in Buddhism, but due to a licensing issue, we cannot show the definition Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
呷 see styles	xiā / xia1 hsia	suck, swallow, drink Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
噲哙 see styles	kuài / kuai4 k`uai / kuai	throat; to swallow; surname Kuai Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
嚃 see styles	tà / ta4 t`a / ta	to drink; to swallow Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
嚥咽 see styles	yàn / yan4 yen	to swallow See: 咽 Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
服 see styles	fú / fu2 fu buku / ぶく fuku / ふく	dose (measure word for medicine); Taiwan pr. [fu2]; clothes; dress; garment; to serve (in the military, a prison sentence etc); to obey; to be convinced (by an argument); to convince; to admire; to acclimatize; to take (medicine); mourning clothes; to wear mourning clothes (1) (archaism) (See 喪服) mourning clothes; (2) mourning; period of mourning; (n,n-suf) (1) clothes (esp. Western clothes); (suf,ctr) (2) (See 一服) counter for doses of medicine, gulps of tea, drags of a cigarette, etc.; (surname) Fukusaki; (personal name) Fuku; (personal name) Hatori; (personal name) Hattori Submit, serve; clothing, to wear; mourning; to swallow; a dose. Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
觾 see styles	yàn / yan4 yen	variant of 燕, swallow Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
飮 see styles	yǐn / yin3 yin on	variant of 飲\|饮[yin3] To drink, swallow; to water cattle. Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
餌 see styles	ěr / er3 erh esa(p);e;esa / えさ(P);え;エサ	pastry; food; to swallow; to lure; bait; lure (1) (animal) feed; fodder; pet food; (2) bait; lure; enticement Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
鳦 see styles	yǐ / yi3 i	a swallow (bird) Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
鷾 see styles	yì / yi4 i	a swallow Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
併吞并吞 see styles	bìng tūn / bing4 tun1 ping t`un / ping tun	to swallow up; to annex; to merge Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
侵吞 see styles	qīn tūn / qin1 tun1 ch`in t`un / chin tun	to annex; to swallow (up); to embezzle Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
包舉包举 see styles	bāo jǔ / bao1 ju3 pao chü	to summarize; to swallow up; to annex; to merge Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
卷裹 see styles	juǎn guǒ / juan3 guo3 chüan kuo	to wrap up; (fig.) to envelop; to swallow up Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞噬 see styles	tūn shì / tun1 shi4 t`un shih / tun shih	to swallow; to engulf; to gobble up Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞嚥吞咽 see styles	tūn yàn / tun1 yan4 t`un yen / tun yen	to swallow; to gulp Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞服 see styles	tūn fú / tun1 fu2 t`un fu / tun fu	to swallow; to take (medicine) Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞沒吞没 see styles	tūn mò / tun1 mo4 t`un mo / tun mo	to embezzle; to swallow up; to engulf Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞精 see styles	tūn jīng / tun1 jing1 t`un ching / tun ching	to swallow semen Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
吞聲吞声 see styles	tūn shēng / tun1 sheng1 t`un sheng / tun sheng	to swallow one's cries Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
呑む see styles	nomu / のむ	(transitive verb) (1) to drink; to gulp; to swallow; to take (medicine); (2) to smoke (tobacco); (3) to engulf; to overwhelm; (4) to keep down; to suppress; (5) to accept (e.g. demand, condition); (6) to make light of; to conceal Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
嗆到呛到 see styles	qiāng dào / qiang1 dao4 ch`iang tao / chiang tao	to choke on (food etc); to swallow the wrong way Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
嚥下咽下 see styles	yàn xià / yan4 xia4 yen hsia enge / えんげ enka / えんか	to swallow; to suppress (n,vs,adj-no) (act of) swallowing; deglutition Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
家燕 see styles	jiā yàn / jia1 yan4 chia yen	(bird species of China) barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
服む see styles	nomu / のむ	(irregular kanji usage) (transitive verb) (1) to drink; to gulp; to swallow; to take (medicine); (2) to smoke (tobacco); (3) to engulf; to overwhelm; (4) to keep down; to suppress; (5) to accept (e.g. demand, condition); (6) to make light of; to conceal Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
洋燕 see styles	yáng yàn / yang2 yan4 yang yen	(bird species of China) Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
燕児 see styles	enji / えんじ	(obscure) swallow chick Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll
燕子 see styles	yàn zi / yan4 zi5 yen tzu enshi / えんし	swallow (obscure) (See 燕・1) swallow Buy custom calligraphy wall scroll

Search for Swallow in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title	Characters	Romaji(Romanized Japanese)	Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Swallow	燕	yasushi	yàn / yan4 / yan	yen
Great Aspirations Ambition	鴻鵠之誌鸿鹄之志		hóng hú zhī zhì hong2 hu2 zhi1 zhi4 hong hu zhi zhi honghuzhizhi	hung hu chih chih hunghuchihchih
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.

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