严yán

严

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

The traditional form 嚴 (yán, "strict, severe") combines 吅—two mouths urging caution—with a bottom component historically depicting a weapon or dangerous implement, together conveying the sense of imminent threat. In simplified Chinese, the character was streamlined to 严, losing the visual urgency of the original. As a semantic radical, 嚴 appears in 讙 (joyous), 讞 (to judge), and 噤 (to be silent), always carrying that core meaning of intensity or severity.

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Shuowen

Strict. The top component derives from an ancient form depicting a mouth opening wide in distress, while the bottom element represents grass or vegetation—together suggesting something compressed or tightly constrained, as if growth is being choked. The original oracle bone inscription showed a figure threatened by a weapon at the throat, conveying the sense of danger and severity. This imagery of imminent threat and pressure evolved into the modern meaning of strictness and rigor, the character simplified over time while retaining its core sense of tightness and severity.

Pinyin

yán· HSK 2

严yán

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin