■ radical

xián

all

How it’s built

Depicts a massacre with a weapon (戌), based on the original meaning "slaughter; terminate". The meaning later shifted to "finish", "complete", and "all". In simplified Chinese 咸 is also used to mean "salty", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 鹹.

戌

meaning

11th earthly branch

口

component

mouth — The purpose of this component is unclear. Likely used to distinguish this character from 戌.

Through the ages

Oracle bone script

Bronze script

Seal script

Appears in

Characters that use 咸 as a component, most common first.

感gǎnto affect 减jiǎnto decrease 喊hǎnto shout 碱jiǎnalkaline 缄jiānto seal 箴zhēnneedle 鹹xiánall 減jiǎnto decrease 緘jiānto seal

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