jiàn

sword

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Simplified form of .

Components
佥 sound component

  Sound component

qiān

  

together

刂 meaning component

  Meaning component

dāo

  

knife

is a component form of .

Evolution

剑 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
剑 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
剑 Clerical script Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical script

Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)
剑 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
剑 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

() 

jiàn

sword, dagger, saber; double-edged sword; CL:[kǒu],[bǎ]; classifier for blows of a sword

() 

jiàn

variant of |[jiàn]

Most common words with 剑
Freq.
Word
Meaning

double-edged sword

宝剑

(double-edged) sword

剑桥

Cambridge

剑术

fencing

剑客

fencer (i.e. sportsman involved in fencing)