yán

strict

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "exaggerate". The meaning later shifted to "extreme", "severe", and "strict". The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Components
喦 meaning component

  Meaning component

niè

  

talkative

敢 deleted component

  Deleted component

gǎn

  

to dare

The traditional component was removed for simplification.

Evolution

严 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

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

Seal script

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

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
严 Traditional script Modern

Traditional script

Modern
严 Simplified script Modern

Simplified script

Modern
Definitions

() 

yán

strict, rigorous, rigid; stern; tight (closely sealed); strict; rigorous; severe; father

() 

Yán

surname Yan

Most common words with 严
Freq.
Word
Meaning

严重

grave

严格

strict

严肃

solemn

尊严

dignity

stern

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sound component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Statistics

HSK level 4

Appears in 55.2619% of movies

855th most common character in movies

545th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

7

Traditional

Unicode

U+4E25


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