尘

塵

chén

土 + 小

Definitions

chén (noun) dust; dirt

Etymology

Small 小 flakes of earth 土

About

The character 尘 means dust, fine particles of earth. Its traditional form, 塵, combines 鹿 (deer) above 土 (earth) to suggest a herd of deer raising a cloud of dirt. The simplified character 尘 replaces the deer with 小 (small) above 土, creating the transparent compound "small earth", which aptly describes dust as tiny bits of soil.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

桌子上有很多灰尘。

Zhuōzi shàng yǒu hěn duō huīchén.

There is a lot of dust on the table.

我每天打扫灰尘。

Wǒ měitiān dǎsǎo huīchén.

I sweep dust every day.

风吹起了地上的尘土。

Fēng chuī qǐle dì shàng de chéntǔ.

The wind blew up the dust on the ground.

汽车驶过，扬起一片尘埃。

Qìchē shǐ guò, yáng qǐ yī piàn chén'āi.

The car drove by, raising a cloud of dust.

她小心地擦去相框上的灰尘。

Tā xiǎoxīn de cā qù xiàngkuàng shàng de huīchén.

She carefully wiped the dust off the photo frame.

经过多年的闲置，房间里积满了灰尘。

Jīngguò duōnián de xiánzhì, fángjiān lǐ jī mǎnle huīchén.

After years of disuse, the room accumulated dust.

在沙漠中，尘土随风飘扬，形成壮观的景象。

Zài shāmò zhōng, chéntǔ suí fēng piāoyáng, xíngchéng zhuàngguān de jǐngxiàng.

In the desert, dust floats with the wind, forming a spectacular scene.

尽管科技发达，但城市中的尘埃污染仍然是一个严峻的问题。

Jǐnguǎn kējì fādá, dàn chéngshì zhōng de chén'āi wūrǎn réngrán shì yīgè yánjùn de wèntí.

Despite advanced technology, dust pollution in cities remains a severe problem.

Related Characters

Component: 土

Component: 小

尘