shànyǎn

sharp

Components

Sound component
yán flame
Meaning component
dāo knife

knife

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyemXN-r[a]mʔsharp; pierce
Zhengzhangɦljamʔ
lamʔ
Unicodezhiɛ̌m

說文解字

銳利也。从刀炎聲。

Sources

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