yǎn
play; act; perform
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他正在演戏。
tā zhèngzài yǎnxì.
He is acting.
这部电影演得很好。
zhè bù diànyǐng yǎn dé hěn hǎo.
This movie is very well acted.
我想成为一名演员。
wǒ xiǎng chéngwéi yī míng yǎnyuán.
I want to be an actor.
藏 (cáng)
hide
隐 (yǐn)
conceal
The Chinese character 演 (yǎn) is composed of two parts: 氵(water) and 頁 (page). The water radical on the left symbolizes the flow of water, while the page radical on the right represents a book or a document. Together, they suggest the idea of "spreading out" or "extending". This character originally meant "to spread out" or "to extend", and later extended to mean "to perform" or "to act". In modern Chinese, 演 is commonly used in the sense of "to perform" or "to act", as in 表演 (biǎoyǎn, "to perform") or 演讲 (yǎnjiǎng, "to give a speech"). It can also be used in the sense of "to evolve" or "to develop", as in 演变 (yǎnbiàn, "to evolve") or 演绎 (yǎnyì, "to deduce").
