焚砚
fén​yàn

stop writing

焚 fén, fèn burn

Setting fire 火 to a forest 林

Components

林
林 Meaning component
lín forest
火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartbjun[b]u[n]burn (v.)
Zhengzhangbun
Unicodebhiən

Sources

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

砚 yàn inkstone Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 见 represents the sound. Simplified form of 硯.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
见
见 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

硯 inkstone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 見 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
見
見 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngenHC.[ŋ]ˤe[r]-s (< uvular)smooth stone; inkstone
Zhengzhangŋɡeːn
ŋɡeːns
Unicodengèn

說文解字

石滑也。从石見聲。

Sources

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