Dong Chinese dictionary

gàn

Jiangxi province

Original meaning:

to bestow

Depicts a person with outstretched hands (丮) holding a jade ornament (章). The 貝 (shell) component was later added to clarify the original meaning. Based on the original meaning "to bestow". The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Components

章 Iconic component

zhāng

chapter, seal

Depicts a jade ornament.

丮 Iconic component

jǐ

catch

Depicts a person with outstretched hands.

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

貝 Meaning component

bèi

sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

貝 hints at the original meaning of 贛, "to bestow", which is no longer the most common meaning of 贛 in modern Mandarin.

Evolution

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

赣 (贛)

gàn

Jiangxi province; places therein

赣 (贛)

Gàn

abbr. for Jiangxi Province 江西省[JiāngxīShěng]; Gan River in Jiangxi Province 江西省[JiāngxīShěng]

Most common words with 贛

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	赣	abbr. for Jiangxi Province 江西省[JiāngxīShěng]
	赣州	Ganzhou prefecture-level city in Jiangxi
	赣州市	Ganzhou prefecture-level city in Jiangxi
	赣江	Gan River in Jiangxi Province 江西省[JiāngxīShěng]
	浙赣	Zhejiang-Jiangxi

Component uses

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

季旭昇《說文新證》p.521

李学勤《字源》p.569

Original meaning:

Freq.

Word

Meaning