辰
mostly lends its sound to characters read chén · Kangxi radical 161
mostly lends its sound to characters read chén, zhèn or shēn, and in a few carries a sense of a large shellfish or of the morning hours
The oldest forms of 辰 show a shell-like object with something protruding from it — commonly read either as a clam with its soft body extended, or as a hoe-like farm tool made from a big shell — but the picture is genuinely disputed. The clam reading survives in 蜃 'giant clam', while the calendar and time-of-day uses gave 晨 'morning'. In the modern shape you can still see a bracket-like outer frame (厂 plus the top stroke) closing over the strokes inside, like a shell around its contents. In most of the characters here, though, 辰 is simply the sound part: 振, 震, 娠, 宸, 唇.
辰 at a glance
- Meaning
- mostly lends its sound to characters read chén
- Strokes
- 7
- Characters
- 12
- Role
- Contributes sound
- Kangxi radical
- 161
Characters with 辰 (9 of 12)
HSK 5 · 2
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 辰 mean?
辰 means "mostly lends its sound to characters read chén". In the characters that contain it, it contributes sound.
How many Chinese characters contain 辰?
12 characters in this dictionary contain 辰, including ones at HSK 5, HSK 6.
Is 辰 a radical?
Yes — 辰 is Kangxi radical 161, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 辰 have?
辰 is written in 7 strokes.