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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 is romanized as Yan. In fact, there were also several different Yan kingdoms in the ancient history of China (which is the origin of the surname).
鴻鵠之誌 is a Chinese proverb that implies that having grand 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 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.
This in-stock artwork might be what you are looking for, and ships right away...
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 yan4 yen yasushi やすし |
More info & calligraphy: Swallow(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; boy toy; (given name) Yasushi |
吞 see styles |
tūn tun1 t`un tun gon |
to swallow; to take to swallow |
嚃 see styles |
tà ta4 t`a ta |
(literary) to drink; to swallow |
嚥 咽 see styles |
yàn yan4 yen |
to swallow See: 咽 |
服 see styles |
fù fu4 fu fukusaki ふくさき |
classifier for medicine: dose; Taiwan pr. [fu2] (1) (archaism) mourning clothes; (2) (archaism) mourning; period of mourning; (surname) Fukusaki Submit, serve; clothing, to wear; mourning; to swallow; a dose. |
觾 see styles |
yàn yan4 yen |
variant of 燕[yan4], swallow |
飮 see styles |
yǐn yin3 yin on |
variant of 飲|饮[yin3] To drink, swallow; to water cattle. |
餌 饵 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 food |
鳦 see styles |
yǐ yi3 i |
a swallow (bird) |
鷾 see styles |
yì yi4 i |
a swallow |
乳燕 see styles |
rǔ yàn ru3 yan4 ju yen |
baby swallow |
併吞 并吞 see styles |
bìng tūn bing4 tun1 ping t`un ping tun |
to swallow up; to annex; to merge |
侵吞 see styles |
qīn tūn qin1 tun1 ch`in t`un chin tun |
to annex; to swallow (up); to embezzle |
包舉 包举 see styles |
bāo jǔ bao1 ju3 pao chü |
to summarize; to swallow up; to annex; to merge |
卷裹 see styles |
juǎn guǒ juan3 guo3 chüan kuo |
to wrap up; (fig.) to envelop; to swallow up |
吞噬 see styles |
tūn shì tun1 shi4 t`un shih tun shih |
to swallow; to engulf; to gobble up |
吞嚥 吞咽 see styles |
tūn yàn tun1 yan4 t`un yen tun yen |
to swallow; to gulp |
吞服 see styles |
tūn fú tun1 fu2 t`un fu tun fu |
to swallow; to take (medicine) |
吞沒 吞没 see styles |
tūn mò tun1 mo4 t`un mo tun mo |
to embezzle; to swallow up; to engulf |
吞精 see styles |
tūn jīng tun1 jing1 t`un ching tun ching |
to swallow semen |
吞聲 吞声 see styles |
tūn shēng tun1 sheng1 t`un sheng tun sheng |
to swallow one's cries |
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 |
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 |
嚥下 咽下 see styles |
yàn xià yan4 xia4 yen hsia enge えんげ enka えんか |
to swallow (n,vs,adj-no) (act of) swallowing; deglutition |
家燕 see styles |
jiā yàn jia1 yan4 chia yen |
(bird species of China) barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) |
洋燕 see styles |
yáng yàn yang2 yan4 yang yen |
(bird species of China) Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) |
燕児 see styles |
enji えんじ |
(obscure) swallow chick |
燕子 see styles |
yàn zi yan4 zi5 yen tzu enshi えんし |
swallow (rare) (See 燕・1) swallow |
燕雀 see styles |
yàn què yan4 que4 yen ch`üeh yen chüeh enjaku えんじゃく |
(bird species of China) brambling (Fringilla montifringilla); (fig.) small fry (1) (See 鴻鵠・1) small bird (like a swallow or sparrow); (2) (See 鴻鵠・2) small-minded person; person lacking in character |
燕鳶 see styles |
tsubametobi; tsubametobi つばめとび; ツバメトビ |
(kana only) swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) |
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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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Swallow Kanji, Swallow Characters, Swallow in Mandarin Chinese, Swallow Characters, Swallow in Chinese Writing, Swallow in Japanese Writing, Swallow in Asian Writing, Swallow Ideograms, Chinese Swallow symbols, Swallow Hieroglyphics, Swallow Glyphs, Swallow in Chinese Letters, Swallow Hanzi, Swallow in Japanese Kanji, Swallow Pictograms, Swallow in the Chinese Written-Language, or Swallow in the Japanese Written-Language.
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