shēn

deep

Depicts a person exploring inside a cave ().

Components

Iconic component
xué, jué cave
Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a person exploring inside a cave. The modern form looks like the unrelated character .


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (2 of 3 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

說文解字

《說文》:“,深也。一曰竈突。从穴,从火,从求省。”

Sources

Character origin
李学勤《字源》p.666
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical images
Academia Sinica