閹
yān

castrate

Phonosemantic compound. 門 represents the meaning and 奄 represents the sound.

Components

門
門 Meaning component
mén, men door
奄
奄 Sound component
yǎn, yān to enclose

Character Evolution

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

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangqrom
qromʔ

說文解字

豎也。宮中奄閽閉門者。从門奄聲。

Sources

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

阉 yān castrate Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 门 represents the meaning and 奄 represents the sound. Simplified form of 閹.

Components

门
门 Meaning component
mén, men door
奄
奄 Sound component
yǎn, yān to enclose

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode