Khotan was an ancient kingdom on the southern Silk Road.
Tips
history
阗 has no standalone modern use. It survives in the reduplication 阗阗 ('a rumbling roar', e.g. of drums or chariots) and above all in the ancient Silk Road kingdom 于阗 (Khotan, modern Hotan). The gate radical 门 is the index here; 真 supplies the sound.
register
Literary and archaic. Today 阗 appears almost only inside the proper name 于阗 and in classical poetry.
