黾 (mǐn): (literary) to strive; to exert…

Meanings

1 (literary) to strive; to exert oneself (chiefly in 黾勉 miǎnmiǎn)
2 (read měng) frog; toad - original meaning, now archaic

Characters

黾

mǐn

to strive; (archaic) frog

Pictograph of a frog seen from above - body, four legs, and tail-tip all visible in the original graph.

Examples

HSK 7-9

他黾勉从事，几十年如一日。

Tā miǎnmiǎn cóngshì, jǐshí nián rú yī rì.

He worked tirelessly, decade after decade with the same dedication.

Tips

usage

Modern Chinese mostly uses 黾 inside the literary compound 黾勉 (to strive / make a sustained effort), familiar from 《诗经·邶风·谷风》's 'miǎnmiǎn tóngxīn' line. Standalone 黾 - read měng - meaning 'frog' is now nearly extinct outside classical zoological texts.

history

The graph is a pictograph of a frog in plan view - the four legs splayed, the round body in the middle. The 'strive' meaning is a phonetic loan that displaced the original animal sense over time. As Kangxi radical #205 it indexes amphibian and reptile names: 鼋 (large turtle), 鼍 (Chinese alligator), 鳖 (turtle / soft-shelled).

Components

pictograph

黾 mǐn

frog; toad (archaic); to strive

Pictograph of a frog or toad viewed from above - wide body, four splayed legs, a head with eyes. Itself Kangxi radical #205, indexing characters about amphibians and reptiles (鼋 soft-shell turtle, 鼍 alligator). The single-glyph form does not decompose; visual breakdowns into 口+电 are graphic accidents of stroke reform, not real components.

Radical

Frog Kangxi #205

An indexing radical for amphibians, reptiles, and shelled water animals. Compounds: 鼋 (large soft-shelled turtle), 鼍 (Chinese alligator), 鳖 (snapping turtle). The radical's primary reading miǎn comes from a classical loan; the original frog reading is měng. Productive in classical zoological vocabulary, rare in everyday Chinese.