郇 (Xún) · Xun - name of an ancient feudal state of the Zhou…

Meanings

1 Xun - name of an ancient feudal state of the Zhou dynasty (in present-day southern Shanxi)
2 a Chinese surname (also pronounced Huán)

Characters

郇

xún

(state/surname; combines 旬 'cycle' with 阝 city radical)

Examples

HSK 7-9

郇国是周代的一个小诸侯国。

Xún guó shì Zhōu dài de yí gè xiǎo zhūhóu guó.

Xun was a small feudal state during the Zhou dynasty.

HSK 7-9

他姓郇，是个少见的姓氏。

Tā xìng Xún, shì ge shǎojiàn de xìngshì.

His surname is Xun, a rare family name.

Tips

history

The state of 郇 was enfeoffed to a son of King Wen of Zhou (周文王), located in today's southern 山西 (Shanxi) near Linyi (临猗). It was later absorbed by Jin (晋) during the Spring and Autumn period. As a surname, 郇 has two readings: Xún (more common) and Huán.

Components

radical

阝 yì

city; settlement (right-side form of 邑)

Right-side 阝 - city radical, side form of 邑, marker for places and polities. Carries the meaning of 郇: an ancient Zhou-dynasty fiefdom in what is now Shanxi, and from there a surname descended from that ducal lineage. Sits with 邦 state, 都 capital, 郊 suburb, 郡 prefecture - the same place-name family that locates 阝 on the right.

phonetic

旬 xún

ten-day period

Left side 旬 supplies the sound directly - same xún with no shift. 旬 itself pictures a ten-day cycle wrapped by the surrounding stroke, with 日 'sun' inside. That ten-day-period meaning has no semantic role in 郇; pure phonetic borrowing. Same phonetic in 询 inquire, 殉 die-with, 荀 (a surname) - all xún-readers.