燕 = 北 + 口 + 廿 + 灬

燕 is a Japanese kanji written with 16 strokes, listed here under the keyword “swallow”. It is built from 北 (north), 口 (mouth), 廿 (twenty) and 灬 (fire radical). In Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig it is frame 2882.

Keyword: swallow
RTK frame: 2882
Strokes: 16
On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading): エン
Kun'yomi (native Japanese reading): つばめ, つばくら, つばくろ
Script: Japanese kanji
Also known as: swallow (bird), глотать
Same glyph as a Chinese hanzi: 燕 swallow (bird)

Decomposition

Primary decomposition

How to find 燕 without knowing its reading

On KumiJi Glyph Explorer, open the parts search and type “north” + “mouth” + “twenty”. 燕 is among the results, together with every other character containing the same shapes.

Open 燕 in the interactive kanji search to expand every part down to its smallest pieces, add your own names and mnemonic stories, or search for other characters by their parts.