悭吝
qiān​lìn

miserly

悭 qiān, xián miserly Simplified

Having a hard 坚 heart 忄; 坚 also provides the pronunciation

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart
坚
坚 SoundMeaning component
jiān firm, solid

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

吝 lìn stingy

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 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 Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlinHmə.rə[n]-sstingy
Zhengzhangm·rins

說文解字

恨惜也。从口文聲。《易》曰：“以往吝。”

Sources

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

慳 miserly Traditional

Having a hard 堅 heart 忄; 堅 also provides the pronunciation

Components

忄
忄 Meaning component
xin, xīn heart
堅
堅 SoundMeaning component
jiān firm, solid

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkʰriːn

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang