Definitions

wán Metaplexis stauntoni

Etymology phono-semantic

plant

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

is a phono-semantic compound: the grass radical at the top indicates a plant, and the component (wán) at the bottom supplies the pronunciation. Historically, it refers to the climbing vine Metaplexis japonica, known from the Book of Songs under the name 芄兰. Use of this character is now largely limited to classical botanical works.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
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