Dong Chinese dictionary

cǎn

Phonosemantic compound. 曰 represents the meaning and 兓 represents the sound.

Components

jīn

sharp

朁 and 兓 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in older Chinese.

曰 Meaning component

yuē

say

Modern form looks like unrelated 日.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 曰 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

cǎn

if, supposing, nevertheless

Component uses

Sound component in 5 characters (1 verified)

Sources