奸 (jiān): wicked

Meanings

1 wicked
2 crafty
3 treacherous
4 to rape (variant of 姦)

Characters

奸

jiān

wicked; crafty; traitor

Examples

这个人又奸又滑。

Zhège rén yòu jiān yòu huá.

This person is both crafty and slippery.

历史上的奸臣害了很多忠臣。

Lìshǐ shàng de jiān chén hài le hěnduō zhōngchén.

Treacherous officials in history harmed many loyal ministers.

Tips

usage

As an adjective, 奸 means treacherous/crafty (奸诈, 奸臣). As a variant of 姦, it means illicit sexual acts (强奸 = rape). Context makes the meaning clear.

culture

奸臣 (treacherous minister) is a classic archetype in Chinese history and literature, contrasted with 忠臣 (loyal minister).

Components

radical

女 nǚ

woman

Left woman radical — a kneeling figure with folded arms, the indexing radical. The use here reflects deeply misogynistic classical-Chinese morality where 'evil / treachery' was filed under the woman radical (同样 attested in 妒 jealousy, 妄 absurd, 婪 covetous). Modern readers should treat this as a fossilized graphic convention, not a current value judgment.

phonetic

干 gān

shield; dry; interfere

Right 干 supplies the sound — gān shifting to jiān with palatalization (the regular k/g → j shift before front vowels in Mandarin). Also adds the meaning 'to interfere / encroach upon,' which fits the original sense of 奸 'to violate, to commit treachery against.' Same phonetic family: 杆 pole, 肝 liver, 竿 bamboo pole, 赶 chase.