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鉴

鑒
jiàn
verb #9,246

Meanings

  1. 1 to examine
  2. 2 mirror
  3. 3 to learn from

Examples

鉴定
Jiàndìng
to appraise; to identify
借鉴
Jièjiàn
to learn from; to draw on

Tips

history
Originally meant a bronze mirror — extended to 'examine' and 'learn from'

Components

radical
金 jīn
metal; gold
Bottom indexing radical 金 — the standalone form, picturing nuggets buried in soil. It marks 鉴 as a polished metal object: the bronze mirror that gave Chinese its core word for self-examination. From "looking into a bronze disk" came inspect, learn from a precedent, cautionary mirror.
phonetic
监 jiān
to oversee; mirror (top portion fused/contracted)
Top five strokes are a contracted form of 监 jiān "to look into, supervise" — historically a person bending over a basin to see their reflection. Standalone 监 has ten strokes; here only the eye-and-frame top is preserved. Supplies both the jiàn sound and the mirror-watching imagery.

Stroke Order

鉴 jiàn