黔
Qián

black

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the meaning and 今 represents the sound.

Components

黑
黑 Meaning component
hēi black
今
今 Sound component
jīn now

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartgjem[ɡ](r)[o]mblack
Zhengzhangɡram
ɡrɯm
Unicodeghyɛm

說文解字

黎也。从黑今聲。秦謂民爲黔首，謂黑色也。周謂之黎民。《易》曰：“爲黔喙。”

Sources

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