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陈chén

Character evolution

陈

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Simplified · Today

Shuowen

陈 (chén) is formed by the hill radical 阝 on the left and the phonetic component 臣 on the right, originally depicting a row of people (臣) on a raised hill (阝). In oracle bone script the character represented a military formation or a display of goods on a platform, giving the original meaning 'to arrange, to exhibit'. The phonetic 臣 supplies the sound, while the radical suggests a high place, and the meaning later broadened to 'to state, to explain' and became a surname.

Pinyin

chén· HSK 2