洇 (yīn) · (of liquid) to spread and soak in (paper, cloth, soil)

Meanings

1 (of liquid) to spread and soak in (paper, cloth, soil)
2 to bleed through / blot

Characters

洇

yīn

to soak / spread (of liquid)

Examples

HSK 7-9

这种纸太薄，墨水一写就洇。

Zhèzhǒng zhǐ tài báo, mòshuǐ yī xiě jiù yīn.

This paper is too thin - the ink spreads as soon as you write.

HSK 7-9

血已经把纱布洇湿了。

Xuè yǐjīng bǎ shābù yīn shī le.

Blood has already soaked through the gauze.

Tips

memory

Radical 氵 (water) on the left signals the liquid-spreading meaning. Most common in calligraphy contexts - describing what happens when ink hits absorbent rice paper (生宣).

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-drops water radical on the left - the side-form of 水. The indexing radical, marking 洇 as a water-family word. Specifically the spreading and soaking of ink or moisture into paper, cloth, or soil - the slow capillary creep. Pair with 渗 (seep), 浸 (soak), 润 (moisten).

phonetic

因 yīn

because; cause

Right 因 supplies the sound directly - yīn matches the whole reading with no drift. 因 itself depicts a person on a mat (cause/reason). Same phonetic appears in 姻 (marriage), 茵 (cushion), 烟 (smoke - visually similar spread), all sharing the yīn reading. Faint semantic echo: ink finds a 'reason' to spread along the fibres.