岑

cén
noun #45,991

Meanings

  1. 1 a small but high hill; peak
  2. 2 surname Cen

Examples

HSK 4
Cén shì xiǎo ér gāo de shān.
A peak is a hill that is small but rises high.

Tips

history
岑 is rarely used alone in modern Chinese. It meant a small steep hill in classical texts and survives chiefly as a surname (the Tang poet 岑参) and in the literary state 岑寂 (silent and still).
register
Literary and onomastic; the everyday word for a small hill is 小山.

Components

radical
山 shān
mountain
山 (mountain) sits on top as the meaning radical, since the word names a kind of small steep peak.
phonetic
今 jīn
now; the present
今 supplies the sound; the reading has drifted from 今 to 岑.

Stroke Order

岑 cén