染 (rǎn) — to dye; to catch (a disease); to be tainted by

entries → 染

TSUMUGU · TOCFL 2 (est.) · 字

染 character · TOCFL 2 (est.)

染＝氵＋木＋九

ㄖㄢˇ · rǎn

verb — to dye; to catch (a disease); to be tainted by

字源 FORM — what the parts do

氵義water — the dye bath

木義a tree — the plant the dye comes from

九空worn remainder — once carried the sound

Cloth dipped in dye-water (氵) drawn from a plant (木) — to dye, 染色、染布. The 九 on top is a worn remnant of the old sound element; a folk hand makes it the count, dip nine times to set the color. From taking on a color comes taking on a sickness — 感染, and being tainted — 沾染.

故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by

布浸進染缸（氵），木（木）汁裡來回九（九）回——顏色就吃進去了。

The cloth goes into the dye-water (氵), through the plant's (木) juice nine (九) times — and the color takes.

字源記憶法

意 · Meanings

(本義)染色、染布— to dye常用

→感染、傳染— to catch, be infected常用

→沾染、薰染— to be tainted, influenced

(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension