xiàn

envy, desire

Depicts a person salivating () when seeing a tasty sheep () that they have a desire to eat.

Components
羊 iconic component

  Iconic component

yáng

  

sheep

㳄 sound,iconic component

  Sound Iconic component

xián

  

spit, saliva

Evolution

羨 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
羨 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
羨 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
羨 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

xiàn

envy, admire; praise; covet

() 

xiàn

to envy

Most common words with 羨
Freq.
Word
Meaning

羡慕

to envy

to envy

艳羡

to envy

季羡林

Ji Xianlin (1911-2009), Chinese linguist and Indologist

惊羡

to marvel at