粘

A phono-semantic compoun:

米 (rice) — semantic component

占 (to divine; to occupy) — phonetic component

粘 originally described stickiness associated with cooked or processed rice, such as rice paste or glue made from grain. The 米 radical emphasizes material texture, especially soft, adhesive substances, while 占 supplies the sound.

粘 appears less frequently than 黏 in modern Korean but survives in technical or descriptive contexts:

점착 (粘着) — adhesion; sticking

점착성 (粘着性) — adhesiveness

점착제 (粘着劑) — adhesive; glue

In everyday language, native Korean expressions such as 끈적하다, 끈끈하다, or 달라붙다 are more common.

粘 emphasizes physical adhesion caused by material properties, not force.

It is strongly associated with food textures, glue, and surface contact.

In Modern Standard Chinese,粘 is often contrasted with 黏:

粘 — typically used as a verb (“to stick”)

黏 — typically used as an adjective (“sticky”)

However, in practice, even among native speakers—this distinction is frequently blurred, and both characters are often used interchangeably in informal writing and online contexts.

Compared with 黏, 粘 feels more action-oriented (“to stick”) rather than descriptive.

Related characters:

黏 — sticky; viscous (closely related in meaning)

貼 — to paste; to attach

附 — to attach; to append

著 — to adhere; to touch

膠 — glue; gum

Phonological note (Korean reading):

The Sino-Korean reading 점 is irregular. Historically, the expected reading would have been 념. However, due to phonetic borrowing from 占 (점) rather than regular sound correspondence, the reading shifted to 점.

This type of irregular reading is called 와음 (訛音, distorted reading).

A similar phenomenon occurs in 鮎 (“catfish”) — also read 점 in Korean.

This explains why:

Korean — 점

Chinese — zhān

Japanese — ネン (nen)

show noticeable divergence.