Character: 縣
Modern (Beijing) reading: xiàn
Preclassic Old Chinese: gʷēn
Classic Old Chinese: gwēn
Western Han Chinese: gwjān
Eastern Han Chinese: gwiān
Early Postclassic Chinese: gwiēn
Middle Postclassic Chinese: gwiēn
Late Postclassic Chinese: gwiēn
Middle Chinese: ɣwien
English meaning : to hang, suspend
Russian meaning[s]: 1) уезд; уездный; 2) Сянь (фамилия)
Comments: For *gʷ- cf. Min forms: Chaozhou kuãi2, Fuzhou keŋ2. Also read (since L.Zhou) *gʷēns, MC ɣwìen (FQ 黃絢), Pek. xiàn, Viet. huyện, Xiamen kuãi6, Chaozhou kũĩ6, Fuzhou kaiŋ6, Jianou küiŋ6 'district' . Since in some texts (e.g. Shiji) the word is used as a synonym of the whole 天下, *gʷēn-s may be derived from *gʷēn as originally 'smth. suspended, derived from Heaven's will' (although, of course, this may be a folk etymology).
Radical: 120
Four-angle index: 8301
Karlgren code: 0248 a
Go-on: guwen
Kan-on: kuwen
Japanese reading: ken;kakeru;kakaru;agata
Vietnamese reading: huyền
