xiān​chén

speck

xiān fine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components

Meaning component
silk

is a component form of .

Sound component
qiān thousand

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

chén dust Simplified

Small  flakes of earth 

Components

Meaning component
xiǎo small
Meaning component
earth

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

xiān fine Traditional

Components

Meaning component
silk

silk

Sound component
xiān wild onions or leeks

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsem
Unicodesiɛm

說文解字

細也。从糸韱聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

chén dust Traditional

Dust  kicked up by a fleeing deer 鹿

Components

鹿
鹿 Meaning component
deer
Meaning component
earth

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdrin[d]rə[n]dust (n.)
Zhengzhangrdɯn
Unicodedjhin

Sources

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