砚
yàn

inkstone

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 见 represents the sound. Simplified form of 硯.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
见
见 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

硯 inkstone Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 石 represents the meaning and 見 represents the sound.

Components

石
石 Meaning component
shí stone
見
見 Sound component
jiàn, xiàn, jian see

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartngenHC.[ŋ]ˤe[r]-s (< uvular)smooth stone; inkstone
Zhengzhangŋɡeːn
ŋɡeːns
Unicodengèn

說文解字

石滑也。从石見聲。

Sources

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