Chinese Tattoo 燕: Meaning, Strokes & Design Guide
The character 燕 means "swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy" and is pronounced yàn. Below: its structure, the words it appears in, and how it works as a tattoo.
Quick facts
| Character | 燕 |
| Pinyin | yàn |
| Meaning | swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy |
| Strokes | 16 |
| Radical | ⽕ (No. 86) |
Words that contain 燕
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 燕子 | yàn zi | swallow | newest-7 |
| 乳燕 | ru3 yan4 | baby swallow | — |
| 公燕 | gong1 yan4 | banquet held for high-ranking imperial or feudal officials | — |
| 家燕 | jia1 yan4 | (bird species of China) barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) | — |
| 岩燕 | yan2 yan4 | (bird species of China) Eurasian crag martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) | — |
| 洋燕 | yang2 yan4 | (bird species of China) Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) | — |
Words and levels: HSK vocabulary list · meanings: CC-CEDICT.
Placing 燕
燕 runs to 16 strokes, which is dense for a single character. At small sizes the inner strokes close up and the character stops being readable — this one wants a larger placement (upper back, thigh, forearm) rather than a wrist or ankle. Tell your artist the intended size before the stencil is cut, because a design that reads at 8 cm can collapse at 4 cm. Bring the stencil together with the pinyin and the meaning, and ask the artist to follow the stencil rather than redrawing the character freehand — freehand redrawing is the most common way a correct character loses a stroke and becomes a different one.
Design notes for 燕
燕 appears both on its own and inside compounds, so the sense depends on context; here it reads “swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy”. Regular script (楷书) keeps every stroke countable, which matters when a Chinese reader checks it. Avoid mirroring or rotating the character, and avoid very fine or cursive styles at small sizes, where strokes merge into a shape that reads as a different character.
Frequently asked questions
What does 燕 mean?
燕 (yàn) means “swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy”.
How is 燕 pronounced?
燕 is pronounced yàn in Mandarin.
How many strokes does 燕 have?
燕 has 16 strokes, under the ⽕ radical (No. 86).
How large should a 燕 tattoo be?
With 16 strokes, 燕 is moderately dense — it stays legible from roughly 4–5 cm upward. Shrinking it below that risks the strokes merging.
Which style works for 燕?
Bold regular script (楷书) keeps the strokes clear. Semi-cursive (行书) adds flow but softens edges. Seal script looks classical but is harder for most readers to verify — use it only if a native reader has confirmed the rendering.
Is 燕 common in modern Chinese?
It appears in everyday words such as 燕子、乳燕、公燕, though it is more often used inside compounds than alone.
Should I use simplified or traditional 燕?
燕 is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, so there is no form to choose.
Want 燕 as a ready-to-use stencil with a native-checked meaning card, sized for your tattoo artist?
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Character data: Unihan (Unicode) · words: HSK vocabulary & CC-CEDICT · How we verify this