湛蓝
zhàn​lán

azure

湛 zhàn, chén, dān deep

A deep 甚 lake 氵; 甚 also provides the pronunciation

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water
甚
甚 SoundMeaning component
shén, shèn extremely

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔl'uːm
r'uːmʔ
l'um
Unicodedjhæ̌m

說文解字

没也。从水甚聲。一曰湛水，豫章浸。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

蓝 lán blue, indigo plant Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 监 represents the sound. Simplified form of 藍.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

监
监 Sound component
jiān watch carefully
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

藍 lán blue, indigo plant Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 監 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

監
監 Sound component
jiān watch carefully
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartlam[N-k.]rˤam indigo

說文解字

《說文》：“藍，染青草也。从艸，監聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)