缄默
jiān​mò

keep silent

缄 jiān seal Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 纟 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound. Simplified form of 緘.

Components

纟
纟 Meaning component
mì silk

纟 is a component form of 糸.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

默 mò silent

Phonosemantic compound. 黑 represents the sound and 犬 represents the meaning.

Components

黑
黑 Sound component
hēi black
Change in sound
犬
犬 Meaning component
quǎn dog

Dogs are not able to speak.

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》：“默，犬暫逐人也。从犬，黑聲。讀若墨。”

Sources

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

緘 seal Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 糹 represents the meaning and 咸 represents the sound.

Components

糹
糹 Meaning component
mì silk

糹 is a component form of 糸.

咸
咸 Sound component
xián all

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangkrɯːm
Unicodegæm

說文解字

束篋也。从糸咸聲。

Sources

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