臤

to gouge out an eye

← Back to history
approved by Marcus Ngai · Apr 5, 2026, 03:40 AM · Reviewed by Marcus Ngai on Apr 5, 2026, 03:40 AM

added simplified variant

Depicts a hand (又) gouging an eye (臣).

Components

臣
臣 Iconic component

Depicts an eye.

又
又 Iconic component

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

說文解字

《說文》：“臤，堅也。从又，臣聲。讀若‘鏗鏘’之‘鏗’。古文以為賢字。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.223-224
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)