沈 - Dong Chinese dictionary

shěn, chén

sink

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 冘 represents the sound.

Components

氵 Meaning component

shui, shuǐ

water

氵 is a component form of 水.

冘 Sound component

yín, yóu

to move on

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

Shěn

surname Shen; place name

chén

variant of 沉[chén]

shěn

juice; liquid; water; leak, pour; to pour

Most common words with 沈

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	沈	surname Shen
	沈阳	old names include Fengtian 奉天, Shengjing 盛京 and Mukden
	沈阳市	old names include Fengtian 奉天, Shengjing 盛京 and Mukden
	沈从文	Shen Congwen (1902-1988), novelist
	沈河区	Shenhe district of Shenyang city 瀋陽市\|沈阳市, Liaoning

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese	Middle Chinese	Pinyin	Gloss
C.[d]r[ə]m (~ m-lr[ə]m)	drim	chén	sink (v.t.)
[d]r[ə]m (~ m-lr[ə]m)	drim	chén	sink (v.i.)
*[d]r[ə]m	drim	chén	sacrifice in which gifts are sunk in water
*[d]r[ə]m-s	drimH	chén	sacrifice in which gifts are sunk in water
*[s.t][ə]mʔ	syimX	shěn	(name of a state)