沈

Early pictographic stage (甲骨文, Oracle Bone Script).

Originally a hieroglyphic/ideogrammatic character, depicting water (水) with a sacrificial object (羊 “sheep,” 牛 “ox,” or 玉 “jade”) being dropped into the water.

This represents the act of immersing / submerging offerings into water during rituals.

Thus, original meaning “to sink / to submerge”.

Later transformation to a phono-semantic compound:

沈 = 水 (water, semantic) + 冘 (yín / yóu, phonetic element)

冘 contributes the sound and partially the notion of moving downward / drifting.

Submersion / sinking:

沈沒 (침몰) — sinking (of ships); submersion

沈淪 (침륜) — to fall into ruin; moral decline

沈積 (침적) — sedimentation; deposit buildup

沈降 (침강) — subsidence; settling

Psychological / emotional:

沈思 (침사) — deep contemplation

沈痛 (침통) — grief, deep sorrow

Surname:

沈氏 (심씨) — the Sim family name

Etymological note:

Korean “김치, 김장”의 ‘김’ derived from 沈菜 (침채 → dimchae → gimchi) through phonological evolution.

The association of 沈 with ritual submersion of offerings explains why it appears in sacrificial contexts in ancient literature.

Relation to other characters:

沁 (to soak), 汁 (juice) share semantic domains.

沈 historically carried a rare meaning referring to “juice/extract,” though this is lost in modern usage.

Classical citations:

《左傳·襄公二十五年》 (Zuo Zhuan)

「水則載舟，亦能覆舟，沉之速也。」

“Water carries boats but can also overturn them—submerging them swiftly.”

沈 = to submerge, sink.

《淮南子·主術訓》 (Huainanzi)

「志沈則氣平。」

“When the mind sinks to stillness, the vital energy becomes calm.”

沈 = to sink inward; to become still (metaphorical).

《漢書·郊祀志》 (Book of Han)

「以玉沈於江。」

“Jade was submerged into the river as an offering.”

Reflects the ancient sacrificial origin of the character.

沉 — interchangeable in meaning “to sink”

瀋 — distinct character; surname

In meaning “to sink,” 沉 is overwhelmingly used in China.

In Korean and Japanese, 沈 is the default form for both meanings.