About
孱 (chán or càn) is an ideogrammic compound of 尸 (shī, body or roof) and 孨 (zhuǎn, three 子 "children"). The structure originally depicted many children crowded under a roof or clinging to a body, evoking helplessness and conveying an early sense of weak, timid, or delicate. This core meaning of physical weakness and cowardice has been consistent, often used in literary contexts for a feeble constitution or lack of courage, and occasionally extended in some dialects to describe poor-quality objects.
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