yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements

yán

“flame, blaze; hot”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese jim4. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Nitrogen

gas → gas
+
yán
=
dàn · N 7

Not a plain transliteration: the component was chosen for its meaning, or the name is older than the system.

The reading drifted: the component is read yán, the element dàn.