衍
yǎn HSK7

overflow

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approved by Prismcool · Mar 21, 2026, 02:10 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Mar 21, 2026, 02:10 AM

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Changed fields: hint, originalMeaning, isVerified, components, customSources

Original meaning: long river

Same origin as 永. Pictograph of a long river with a tributary. The meaning later shifted to "overflow" and "spill over".

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 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 Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartyenXN-q(r)anʔ overflow

說文解字

《說文》：“衍，水朝宗于海也。从水，从行。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.796裘錫圭《裘錫圭學術文集》Vol 1, p.382
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)