Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 嘆.

𦰩 jiān to sigh

Depicts a tortured person or a criminal (黑) sighing (口). Original form of 嘆.

Components

口
口 Iconic component
kǒu, kou mouth

Depicts a mouth.

黑
黑 Iconic component
hēi black

Depicts a tortured person or a criminal.

Component uses

Sound (6)

堇難嘆歎艱漢

Iconic (3)

堇嘆艱

Sources

Character origin
黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》p.2569, 3655何琳儀《戰國古文字典：戰國文字聲系》p.975
Readings & variants
Unicode

嘆 tàn sigh

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 𦰩 represents the sound.

Components

口
口 Meaning component
kǒu, kou mouth
𦰩
𦰩 SoundIconic component
jiān to sigh

Depicts a tortured person or criminal sighing.

Change in sound

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartthanHn̥ˤar-s sigh

說文解字

《說文》：“嘆，吞歎也。从口，歎省聲。一曰太息也。”

Sources

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