rǎn
dye, infect, be contagious
Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 杂 represents the sound.
Evolution

Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical script
Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)Regular script
ModernDefinitions
rǎn
dye; be contagious; infect; to dye; to catch (a disease); to acquire (bad habits etc); to contaminate; to add color washes to a painting
Most common words with 染
Freq. | Word | Meaning |
---|---|---|
infection | ||
pollution | ||
to dye | ||
to infect | ||
infectious disease |
Sources