繭
jiǎn

cocoon

A silk 糹 cocoon 冂 spun by a worm 虫

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
冂
冂 Meaning component
jiōng, jiǒng large room
糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk
虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkenXkˤ[e][n]ʔcocoon
Zhengzhangkeːnʔ
Unicodegěn

說文解字

蠶衣也。从糸从虫，黹省。

Sources

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

茧 jiǎn cocoon Simplified

A silk cocoon 艹 spun by a worm 虫

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
虫
虫 Meaning component
chóng bug, insect

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode