Chinese

Verb

蜿蜒

1. to wriggle
2. to wind; to zigzag; to meander

Japanese

Etymology

/weɴeɴ/ → /eɴeɴ/

From Middle Chinese compound 蜿蜒 ‎(ʔiuɑn jæn, literally “wriggle, wind + stretch for a long distance”). Compare modern Mandarin reading wānyán.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi: Kan'on
• (Tokyo) えんえん [èń'éń] (Heiban - [0])^[1]
• IPA^(key): [ẽ̞ɴ.ẽ̞ɴ]

Adjective

蜿蜒 ‎(-tari inflection, hiragana えんえん, romaji en'en, historical hiragana ゑんえん)

1. meandering, winding
   • 1905: 韓國誌 (Kankoku-shi, “Korea Chronicle”), 農商務省 (Nōshōmushō, Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce) (in Japanese), Tōkyō (text here):

     …此村 (このむら)ヨリ河 (かわ)ノ谷 (たに)ハ五里二十町 (ごりにじゅうちょう)ノ間 (あいだ)蜿蜒 (えんえん)タル峽地 (きょうち)ヲ形 (かたち)ツクリ…

     …kono mura yori kawa no tani wa go ri nijū chō no aida en'en taru kyōchi o katachi tsukuri…

     ...from this village, the river valley takes the form of a meandering gorge for a distance of five li and twenty chō [approx. 22km]...

References

1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9