吟

yín
#2,012 most
frequent character
to chant, to recite, verse

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

吟 pairs 口 mouth with 今 jīn, which is both part of the picture and a sound part. Its first meaning was keeping the mouth closed and not speaking. That grew to groaning or moaning, then to chanting and reciting aloud.

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Same Characters, Different Readings

吟yín
old variant of 吟[yin2]

Homophones

HSK 5
银yín
silver, silver-colored

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