㦰
jiān

to exterminate

Pictograph of two people (从) being killed by a weapon (戈). Original form of 殲.

Components

从
从 Iconic component
cóng, cōng from

Depicts two people.

戈
戈 Iconic component
gē spear

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

韱

說文解字

《說文》：“，絕也。一曰田器。从从持戈。古文讀若咸，讀若《詩》云：‘攕攕女手。’”

Sources

Character origin
林志強《《文源》評注》p.349
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)