yǎn

grave

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

Sound component
yán strict

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

grave Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
rén person

is a component form of .

Sound component
yán strict

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngjæmXŋ(r)[a]mʔdignified
Zhengzhangŋamʔ

說文解字

昂頭也。从人嚴聲。一曰好皃。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica