很
hěn HSK1

very

Original meaning: go against

Phonosemantic compound. 彳 represents the meaning and 艮 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "go against". The meaning later shifted to "fight", "ruthless", "extraordinary", and "very". Etymologically related to 狠.

Components

彳
彳 Meaning component
chì, fú walk

彳 is a component form of 行.

艮
艮 SoundMeaning component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Depicts a person looking backwards.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangɡɯːnʔ

說文解字

《說文》:“很,不聽从也。一曰行難也。一曰盭也。从彳,聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica