silent

Phonosemantic compound. represents the sound and represents the meaning.

Components
黑 sound component

  Sound component

hēi

  

black

犬 meaning component

  Meaning component

quǎn

  

dog

Dogs are not able to speak.

Evolution

默 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
默 Clerical script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
默 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
默 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

silent; quiet, still; dark; to write from memory

Most common words with 默
Freq.
Word
Meaning

沉默

taciturn

幽默

humorous

默默

in silence

默契

rapport

silent