沿
yán HSK6

follow a course

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

water

Sound component
yǎn a marsh at the foot of the hills

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartywenlon go along (a river); follow

說文解字

《說文》:“沿,緣水而下也。从水,聲。《春秋傳》曰:‘王沿夏。’”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica