Chinese word

吞咽

Pronunciation

Pinyintūn yàn

Meaning

  • verbswallow

Example

吃药时要用水吞咽。chī yào shí yào yòng shuǐ tūn yàn

When taking medicine, swallow it with water.

Illustration for 吞咽 (swallow)

More examples

他喝了口水，顺利吞咽下去。tā hē le kóu shuǐ shùn lì tūn yàn xià qù

He took a sip of water and swallowed it smoothly.

Core concept

Food or liquid moves from the mouth through the throat and into the digestive tract.

Common phrases

  • 难以吞咽nán yǐ tūn yàn

    difficult to swallow

  • 顺利吞咽下去shùn lì tūn yàn xià qù

    swallow smoothly

  • 吞咽水tūn yàn shuǐ

    swallow water

Similar words

吞下tūn xià: Taking something in the mouth and swallowing it down through the throat.
吞服tūn fú: Taking medicine or a pill by swallowing it with water.

Definition in Chinese

把口中的食物或液体通过喉咙送入食道或胃的动作。bǎ kǒu zhōng de shí wù huò yè tǐ tōng guò hóu lóng sòng rù shí dào huò wèi de dòng zuò

Word origin

The compound joins 吞 (tūn, "swallow") with 咽 (yàn, "swallow") to focus on both taking something in and sending it down through the throat.

Usage tips

  • In everyday conversation, this verb often sounds more formal and appears more readily in health or medicine contexts than in relaxed speech.

Other meanings

  • swallowingnoun

Opposites

Word lists with this word