㳄
xián

spit, saliva

Depicts drops of spit (氵) coming from an open mouth (欠).

Components

氵
氵 Iconic component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

欠
欠 SoundIconic component
qiàn, qian yawn, deficient

Depicts a person with an open mouth.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Iconic (4)

盗羡盜羨

Remnant (2)

盗羡

Sound (2)

羡羨

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartzjens-N-qa[r] saliva (from envy?)
zjens-N-qa[r] spittle

說文解字

《說文》：“，慕欲口液也。从欠，从水。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)