About
The character 孱 (chán or càn) is an ideogrammic compound. Its semantic radical 尸 (shī) represents a body or roof, while the component 孨 (zhuǎn) is composed of three 子 (zǐ) characters, meaning children. This structure originally depicted many children crowded under a roof or clinging to a body, conveying the idea of being timid, weak, or delicate like helpless infants. Historically, the primary meaning has consistently been physical weakness or cowardice. It is often used in literary contexts to describe a person of feeble constitution or lacking courage, and occasionally extends in some dialects to describe inadequate or poor-quality objects.
Etymology Hide
