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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

沉

chén
to sink; to submerge (into water)
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 水
  • 7 strokes
  • 沈

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Origin

Variant of 沈, see there for more.

MSEA areal etymon: similar words exist in Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, & Tibeto-Burman; yet those are difficult to match with potential OC relations (Schuessler, 2007).

Possible allofams are 淫 (OC *lɯm), 瀋 (OC *l̥ʰjɯmʔ), 函 (OC *ɡuːm, *ɡruːm), & 湛 (OC *ʔl'uːm, *r'uːmʔ, *l'um) (ibid.).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Words built on it: 沉默

Meanings

character
  1. to sink; to submerge (into water)
  2. to fall; to sink; to subside
  3. to settle; to make sink
  4. to suppress; to stifle; to neglect
  5. to be neglected
  6. to indulge in; to be given to

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 沒入水中。與「浮」相對。 例：沉沒、石沉大海　◎
  2. 往下降落。 例：星沉月落、太陽西沉
  3. 抑制。 例：沉不住氣
  4. 分量重、壓力大的。 例：沉重、沉甸甸
  5. 程度深的。 例：沉睡、沉醉

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 沉 was written 字形演變

  1. 沉 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 沉 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 沉 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 沉 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 沉 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 沉