沈

沈 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 水中月山 (ELBU), four-corner 3411₂, composition ⿰氵冘)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 610, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17189
• Dae Jaweon: page 1002, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1572, character 7
• Unihan data for U+6C88
• Unihan data for U+F972

Historical forms of the character 沈
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 水 (“water”) + 羊 (“sheep”) — to submerge a sheep into the water (as a form of sacrifice to the river god). Other forms included 牛 (“ox”) or 玉 (“jade”) instead of 羊.

Starting from the bronze inscriptions, it became a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'um, *l'ums, *hljumʔ) : semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 冘 (OC *lu, *lum).

This character was later borrowed to signify the surname, and the variant 沉 (OC *l'um) was adopted for the original meaning.

沈

1. Alternative form of 沉 (chén)
2. (obsolete) ritual sacrifice in which animals are submerged in water
3. (obsolete) put poison in liquid

   • 禁山之為苑、澤之沈者。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     禁山之为苑、泽之沈者。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Rites of Zhou, circa 3^rd century BCE

     Jìn shān zhī wèiyuàn, zé zhī chén zhě. [Pinyin]

     They forbid building parks on mountains and putting poisons in ponds.

4. sixty-fourth tetragram of the Taixuanjing, "sinking" (𝍅)

沈

1. (historical) Shen, a state during the Zhou dynasty and located in modern-day Henan

   • 三年，春，莊叔會諸侯之師伐沈，以其服於楚也，沈潰。凡民逃其上曰潰，在上曰逃。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     三年，春，庄叔会诸侯之师伐沈，以其服于楚也，沈溃。凡民逃其上曰溃，在上曰逃。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Sānnián, chūn, Zhuāngshū huì zhūhóu zhī shī fá Shěn, yǐ qí fú yú chǔ yě, Shěn kuì. Fán mín táo qí shàng yuē kuì, zàishàng yuē táo. [Pinyin]

     In the third year's spring, Zhuangshu gathered the various princes' armies and attacked Shen, because it had submitted to Chu. Shen was routed. Whenever the people deserted their superiors, it's called "rout"; when superiors do so, it's called "desert".

2. a surname

   沈括  ―  Shěn Kuò  ―  Shen Kuo (Song dynasty scientist)

沈

1. Only used in 沈沈.

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. sink
2. be submerged
3. subside
4. be depressed
5. aloes

• Go-on: しん (shin)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}; じん (jin)^{←ぢん (din, historical)←ぢむ (dimu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: しん (shin)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}; ちん (chin, Jōyō)^{←ちん (tin, historical)←ちむ (timu, ancient)}
• Kun: しずむ (shizumu, 沈む, Jōyō); しずめる (shizumeru, 沈める, Jōyō)

From Middle Chinese 沈 (MC drim).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰim]
• Phonetic hangul: [침]

Wikisource 沈 (eumhun 잠길 침 (jamgil chim))

1. Hanja form^? of 침 (“to sink; to submerge”).
2. Hanja form^? of 침 (“to indulge in”).
3. Hanja form^? of 침 (“dark; gloomy”).

From Middle Chinese 沈 (MC syimX).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɕʰi(ː)m]
• Phonetic hangul: [심(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

沈 (eumhun 성씨 심 (seongssi sim))

1. Hanja form^? of 심 (“a surname.”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

沈: Hán Nôm readings: trầm, đắm

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.