沈

沈

See also: 沉, 瀋, and 渖

沈 U+6C88, 沈 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6C88 ← 沇 [U+6C87] CJK Unified Ideographs 沉 → [U+6C89]

沈 U+F972, 沈 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F972 ← 辰 [U+F971] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 拾 → [U+F973]

Translingual

Han character

沈 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 水中月山 (ELBU), four-corner 3411₂, composition ⿰氵冘)

References

• KangXi: page 610, character 6
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17189
• Dae Jaweon: page 1002, character 15
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1572, character 7
• Unihan data for U+6C88
• Unihan data for U+F972

---

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 沈
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (冘) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
冘	*lu, *lum
抌	*lu, *ʔl'uːmʔ, *loʔ
狖	*lus
貁	*lus
耽	*ʔl'uːm
眈	*ʔl'uːm, *ʔl'uːmʔ, *l'uːm
酖	*ʔl'uːm
妉	*ʔl'uːm
黕	*ʔl'uːmʔ
衴	*ʔl'uːmʔ
瓭	*ʔl'uːmʔ
馾	*ʔl'uːms
髧	*l'uːmʔ
紞	*ʔl'oːmʔ
鈂	*zlum, *l'um
沈	*l'um, *l'ums, *hljumʔ
沉	*l'um
枕	*l'um, *ʔljumʔ, *ʔljums
莐	*l'um
霃	*l'um
鴆	*l'ums
訦	*ɦljum, *ɦljumʔ
忱	*ɦljum
邥	*hljumʔ
魫	*hljumʔ

In the oracle bone script, it was an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 水 (“water”) + 羊 (“sheep”) — to submerge a sheep into the water (as a form of sacrifice to the river god). Other forms included 牛 (“ox”) or 玉 (“jade”) instead of 羊.

Starting from the bronze inscriptions, it became a phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'um, *l'ums, *hljumʔ) : semantic 水 (“water”) + phonetic 冘 (OC *lu, *lum).

This character was later borrowed to signify the surname, and the variant 沉 (OC *l'um) was adopted for the original meaning.

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of 沈 – see 瀋 (“liquid; juice; to pour; etc.”). (This character, 沈, is the simplified form of 瀋.)

Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		沈
alternative forms		沉

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): chén (chen²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄔㄣˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): cam⁴, zam³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: chén
    • Zhuyin: ㄔㄣˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: chén
    • Wade–Giles: chʻên²
    • Yale: chén
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: chern
    • Palladius: чэнь (čɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʈ͡ʂʰən³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: cam⁴, zam³
    • Yale: chàhm, jam
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsam⁴, dzam³
    • Guangdong Romanization: cem⁴, zem³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɐm²¹/, /t͡sɐm³³/

---

• Middle Chinese: /ɖˠiɪm/, /ɖˠiɪm^H/

Rime
Character	沈	沈
Reading #	1/3	3/3
Initial (聲)	澄 (11)	澄 (11)
Final (韻)	侵 (140)	侵 (140)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	直深切	直禁切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɖˠiɪm/	/ɖˠiɪmH/
Pan Wuyun	/ɖᵚim/	/ɖᵚimH/
Shao Rongfen	/ȡiem/	/ȡiemH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɖjim/	/ɖjimH/
Li Rong	/ȡjəm/	/ȡjəmH/
Wang Li	/ȡĭĕm/	/ȡĭĕmH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ȡʱi̯əm/	/ȡʱi̯əmH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	chén	zhèn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	cam4	zam6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*C.[d]r[ə]m/, /*[d]r[ə]m/, /*[d]r[ə]m/, /*[d]r[ə]m-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*l'um/, /*l'ums/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	沈	沈	沈	沈
Reading #	1/5	2/5	3/5	4/5
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	chén	chén	chén	chén
Middle Chinese	‹ drim ›	‹ drim ›	‹ drim ›	‹ drimH ›
Old Chinese	/*C.[d]r[ə]m/ (~ *m-lr[ə]m)	/*[d]r[ə]m/ (~ *m-lr[ə]m)	/*[d]r[ə]m/	/*[d]r[ə]m-s/
English	sink (v.t.)	sink (v.i.)	sacrifice in which gifts are sunk in water	sacrifice in which gifts are sunk in water
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	沈	沈
Reading #	1/3	2/3
No.	15255	15261
Phonetic component	冘	冘
Rime group	侵	侵
Rime subdivision	3	3
Corresponding MC rime	沈	鴆
Old Chinese	/*l'um/	/*l'ums/
Notes	周國名

Definitions

沈

1. Alternative form of 沉 (chén).
2. (obsolete) ritual sacrifice in which animals are submerged in water
3. (obsolete) put poison in liquid

   • 禁山之為苑、澤之沈者。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     禁山之为苑、泽之沈者。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Rites of Zhou, circa 3^rd century BCE

     Jìn shān zhī wèiyuàn, zé zhī chén zhě. [Pinyin]

     They forbid building parks on mountains and putting poisons in ponds.

4. sixty-fourth tetragram of the Taixuanjing, "sinking" (𝍅)

Compounds

Derived terms from 沈

沈冤 沈凝 沈勇 沈吟 沈寂 沈思 沈沈 沈浮 沈浸 沈湎 沈溺

沈痛 沈睡 沈著 沈迷 沈醉 沈重 沈香 沈默 浮沈 消沈

深沈 沈悶／沈闷 沈沒／沈没 沈淪／沈沦 沈澱／沈淀 沈積／沈积 沈穩／沈稳 沈靜／沈静 沈鬱／沈郁 陰沈／阴沈

Etymology 3

simp. and trad.		沈

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Standard)

  (Pinyin): shěn (shen³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄣˇ

  (Chengdu, SP): sen³

• Cantonese

  (Guangzhou, Jyutping): sam²

  (Taishan, Wiktionary): sim²

• Gan (Wiktionary): siin³
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): sṳ́m

  (Meixian, Guangdong): sem³

• Jin (Wiktionary): seng²
• Min Dong (BUC): sīng
• Min Nan

  (Hokkien, POJ): sím

  (Teochew, Peng'im): sim²

• Wu (Wiktionary): sen (T2)
• Xiang (Wiktionary): shen³

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shěn
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄣˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shěn
    • Wade–Giles: shên³
    • Yale: shěn
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: sheen
    • Palladius: шэнь (šɛnʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂən²¹⁴/
  • (Chengdu)
    • Sichuanese Pinyin: sen³
    • Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: sen
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sən⁵³/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: sam²
    • Yale: sám
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sam²
    • Guangdong Romanization: sem²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐm³⁵/
  • (Taishanese, Taicheng)
    • Wiktionary: sim²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sim⁵⁵/
• Gan
  • (Nanchang)
    • Wiktionary: siin³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɨn²¹³/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: sṳ́m
    • Hakka Romanization System: siim`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: sim³
    • Sinological IPA: /sɨm³¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: sem³
    • Sinological IPA: /səm³¹/
• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: seng²
    • Sinological IPA (old-style): /sə̃ŋ⁵³/
• Min Dong
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: sīng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /siŋ³³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sím
    • Tâi-lô: sím
    • Phofsit Daibuun: siem
    • IPA (Xiamen): /ɕim⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /ɕim⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /ɕim⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ɕim⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ɕim⁴¹/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: sim²
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sím
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sim⁵²/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: sen (T2)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /səɲ³⁴/
• Xiang
  • (Changsha)
    • Wiktionary: shen³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key) (old-style): /ʂən⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA ^(key) (new-style): /sən⁴¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: /ɕiɪm^X/

Rime
Character	沈
Reading #	2/3
Initial (聲)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	侵 (139)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	式任切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɕiɪmX/
Pan Wuyun	/ɕimX/
Shao Rongfen	/ɕjemX/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɕimX/
Li Rong	/ɕiəmX/
Wang Li	/ɕĭĕmX/
Bernard Karlgren	/ɕi̯əmX/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	shěn
Expected Cantonese Reflex	sam2

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[s.t][ə]mʔ/

  (Zhengzhang): /*hljumʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	沈
Reading #	5/5
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shěn
Middle Chinese	‹ syimX ›
Old Chinese	/*[s.t][ə]mʔ/
English	(name of a state)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	沈
Reading #	3/3
No.	15267
Phonetic component	冘
Rime group	侵
Rime subdivision	3
Corresponding MC rime
Old Chinese	/*hljumʔ/
Notes	周國名，荏由任校改同集韻

Definitions

沈

1. (historical) Shen, a state during the Zhou dynasty and located in modern-day Henan

   • 三年，春，莊叔會諸侯之師伐沈，以其服於楚也，沈潰。凡民逃其上曰潰，在上曰逃。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     三年，春，庄叔会诸侯之师伐沈，以其服于楚也，沈溃。凡民逃其上曰溃，在上曰逃。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Sānnián, chūn, Zhuāngshū huì zhūhóu zhī shī fá Shěn, yǐ qí fú yú chǔ yě, Shěn kuì. Fán mín táo qí shàng yuē kuì, zàishàng yuē táo. [Pinyin]

     In the third year's spring, Zhuangshu gathered the various princes' armies and attacked Shen, because it had submitted to Chu. Shen was routed. Whenever the people deserted their superiors, it's called "rout"; when superiors do so, it's called "desert".

2. a surname

   沈括  ―  Shěn Kuò  ―  Shen Kuo (Song dynasty scientist)

Compounds

沈畈 (Shěnfàn) 沈腰

任筆沈詩／任笔沈诗 沈營／沈营 (Shěnyíng)

沈腰潘鬢／沈腰潘鬓 潘鬢沈腰／潘鬓沈腰

Etymology 4

simp. and trad.		沈

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tán (tan²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄢˊ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: tán
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄢˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: tán
    • Wade–Giles: tʻan²
    • Yale: tán
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tarn
    • Palladius: тань (tanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰän³⁵/

Definitions

沈

1. Only used in 沈沈.

---

Japanese

Kanji

沈

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. sink
2. be submerged
3. subside
4. be depressed
5. aloes

Readings

• Go-on: しん (shin)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}; じん (jin)^{←ぢん (din, historical)←ぢむ (dimu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: しん (shin)^{←しん (sin, historical)←しむ (simu, ancient)}; ちん (chin, Jōyō)^{←ちん (tin, historical)←ちむ (timu, ancient)}
• Kun: しずむ (shizumu, 沈む, Jōyō); しずめる (shizumeru, 沈める, Jōyō)

---

Korean

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 沈 (MC ɖˠiɪm).

Historical readings
Recorded as Middle Korean 띰 (Yale: ttim) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448. Recorded as Middle Korean 沉/팀 (thim)訓 (Yale: thim) in Sinjeung Yuhap (新增類合 / 신증유합), 1576.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰim]
• Phonetic hangul: [침]

Hanja

Wikisource沈 (eumhun 잠길 침 (jamgil chim))

1. Hanja form^? of 침 (“to sink; to submerge”).
2. Hanja form^? of 침 (“to indulge in”).
3. Hanja form^? of 침 (“dark; gloomy”).

Compounds

Compounds

• 격침 (擊沈, gyeokchim)
• 침수 (沈水, chimsu)
• 침착 (沈着, chimchak)
• 침체 (沈滯, chimche)
• 침하 (沈下, chimha)
• 침울 (沈鬱, chimul)
• 침전 (沈澱, chimjeon)
• 침강 (沈降, chimgang)
• 부침 (浮沈, buchim)
• 침통 (沈痛, chimtong)
• 침몰 (沈沒, chimmol, “sinking; going under”)
• 침묵 (沈默, chimmuk, “silence; reticence”)

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 沈 (MC ɕiɪm^X).

Historical readings
Recorded as Middle Korean 심〯 (Yale: sǐm) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɕʰi(ː)m]
• Phonetic hangul: [심(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Hanja

沈 (eumhun 성씨 심 (seongssi sim))

1. Hanja form^? of 심 (“a surname.”).

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

---

Vietnamese

Han character

沈: Hán Nôm readings: trầm, đắm

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.