懂中文 Dong Chinese

剑

jiàn

sword

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 佥 represents the sound. Simplified form of 劍.

Components
佥 sound component

佥  Sound component

qiān

  

together

刂 meaning component

刂  Meaning component

dāo

  

knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Evolution

剑 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
剑 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
剑 Clerical script Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical script

Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
剑 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
剑 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

剑 (劍) 

jiàn

sword, dagger, saber; double-edged sword; CL:口[kǒu],把[bǎ]; classifier for blows of a sword

剑 (劒) 

jiàn

variant of 劍|剑[jiàn]

Most common words with 剑
Freq.
Word
Meaning

剑

double-edged sword

宝剑

(double-edged) sword

剑桥

Cambridge

剑术

fencing

剑客

fencer (i.e. sportsman involved in fencing)