燕
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.