yǎn

eye

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
目 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

eye

艮 sound component

  Sound component

gěngèn

  

blunt

Evolution

眼 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
眼 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

yǎn

eye; eyelet, hole, opening; small hole; crux (of a matter); CL:|[zhī],|[shuāng]; classifier for big hollow things (wells, stoves, pots etc)

Most common words with 眼
Freq.
Word
Meaning

眼睛

eye

eye

眼前

now

眼神

wink

眼泪

tears