燕 - Yan4 - Swallow (the bird)

Tonight’s movie: 金燕子 - Jin1 Yan4 Zi5 - The Golden Swallow (the 1968 swordplay one, not the 1987 horror one). Overall, it was OK. It had an interesting premise: a guy frames the woman he loves for murder, to force her to come to him. I guess that’s how it works in the martial world! The movie really should be called 銀鵬子 - Yin2 Peng2 Zi5 - The Silver Roc, since it was more about the guy (Silver Roc) than the girl (Golden Swallow).

Interestingly, if you take 燕 and put the character for mouth next to it, you get 嚥 - Yan4 - Swallow, the verb! Just like in English! Jenny tells me that this is a unusual way to say swallow though, its usually used metaphorically in poetry and sayings. The normal way to say swallow is 吞 - Tun1 - Swallow, Gulp.