陈 (chén): Chen (surname)

Meanings

1 Chen (surname)
2 to display
3 to lay out
4 old; stale

Characters

陈

chén

Chen; to display; old

Examples

陈先生是我的老师。

Chén xiānsheng shì wǒ de lǎoshī.

Mr. Chen is my teacher.

这些陈年老酒很贵。

Zhèxiē chénnián lǎojiǔ hěn guì.

These aged old wines are very expensive.

Tips

culture

陈 is one of the most common Chinese surnames, ranking 5th overall. It is especially prevalent in southern China and among overseas Chinese communities.

Components

radical

阝 fù

mound; hill (left-side form of 阜)

Left-side 阝 is the mound radical, the squashed form of 阜. The original Chen state (陈国) sat on the fertile mound region of modern Henan, so the radical anchors both the place name and the surname that descended from it. Same radical-family as 陪, 阶, 阵.

phonetic

东 dōng

east

Right-side 东 supplies the sound — the link is clearer in traditional 陳 where 東 was the phonetic. The reading drifted from dōng to chén, but cognate readings surface in chars like 阵 (zhèn) sharing the same right-side. Modern 东 is a stylised contraction of 東.