About
澶 (chán) is used mainly in geographical names for ancient waterways and places, especially the historical city of Chanzhou, and it also describes a body of water as placid and slow-moving. Structurally, it is a phono-semantic compound: the left-side water radical 氵 (shuǐ) indicates its aquatic meaning, while the right-side phonetic 亶 (dǎn) clues the pronunciation. Its most famous appearance is in 澶渊之盟 (Treaty of Chanyuan), the pivotal 11th-century accord between the Song and Liao, which has cemented the character in historical records of diplomacy and border treaties.
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