燕

// The bird: Swallow (//Hirundo*).

• Geography/Politics: The State of Yan (northern region, centered around present-day Beijing).
• State/Activity: Comfort, ease, leisure; feasting or banqueting.

• Noun: Used for the bird or the state/region.
• Verb: Intransitive ("to be at ease") or transitive ("to feast," "to enjoy").
• Modifier: Meaning peaceful, leisurely, or relaxed.

• Frequently used interchangeably with 宴 (banquet) in early texts.
• A distinction exists between concrete meanings (bird/state) and affective meanings (comfort/banquet).

// Tang-period readings reflect the semantic split: //qen// for concrete senses and //qèn* for affective senses.

• Specialized semantic variant: U+9DF0.

In texts concerning northern territories or diplomacy, distinguish carefully between the proper noun (State of Yan) and descriptions of ease or feasting to avoid misreading political identifiers as descriptions of mood or social activity.