Character: 錢
Modern (Beijing) reading: qián
Preclassic Old Chinese: ʒ́an
Classic Old Chinese: ʒan
Western Han Chinese: ʒan
Eastern Han Chinese: ʒjan
Early Postclassic Chinese: ʒjen
Middle Postclassic Chinese: ʒjen
Late Postclassic Chinese: ʒjen
Middle Chinese: ʒjen
English meaning : money [Zhanguo]
Russian meaning[s]: 1) деньги; монета; 2) цянь (десятая часть лана); яп. сена (сотая часть иены); 3) Цянь (фамилия); [jiǎn] лопата, заступ
Comments: The earliest attestation of the character is in Early Zhou for a word *ćanʔ, MC cjén (FQ 即淺), Mand. jiǎn 'hoe, weeder'. The word *ʒ́an 'money' (also a measure of weight) appears during the late Zhanguo period, and is traditionally linked with *ćanʔ 'hoe' (either because hoes were used as exchange, or because money was manufactured in a hoe-like shape); this all seems rather dubious. Viet. also has a slang word sìn 'money' - probably a later loan from the same source. For unaspirated *ʒ- cf. Min forms: Xiamen, Chaozhou cĩ2, Fuzhou cieŋ2, Jianou ciŋ2.
Radical: 167
Four-angle index: 6791
Karlgren code: 0155 j
Vietnamese reading: tiền
Jianchuan Bai: ce7
Dali Bai: che4
