gàn

Jiangxi province

Original meaning: 

to bestow

Depicts a person with outstretched hands () holding a jade ornament (). The (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

  Iconic component

zhāng

  

chapter, seal

Depicts a jade ornament.

丮 iconic component

  Iconic component

  

catch

Depicts a person with outstretched hands.

貝 meaning component

  Meaning component

bèi

  

sea shell

In ancient China, shells were used as currency.

Evolution

贛 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
贛 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
贛 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

gàn

Jiangxi province; places therein

() 

Gàn

abbr. for Jiangxi Province 江西省[Jiāng​xī​Shěng]; Gan River in Jiangxi Province 江西省[Jiāng​xī​Shěng]

Most common words with 贛
Freq.
Word
Meaning

abbr. for Jiangxi Province 江西省[Jiāng​xī​Shěng]

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[Jiāng​xī​Shěng]

浙赣

Zhejiang-Jiangxi

Component uses

Sound component in 1 character (0 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*k[o]mʔ

komX

gàn

the Gàn river

*[k]ˤom-s

komH

gàn

the Gàn river in Jiangxi

*[k]ˤom-s (dialect: *-om > *-oŋ)

kuwngH

gòng

tribute


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

3301st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

24

Simplified

Unicode

U+8D1B

Shuowen

“贛,賜也。从貝,贛省聲。”
Sources

季旭昇《說文新證》p.521

李学勤《字源》p.569



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