敛

斂
liǎn
#2,919 most
frequent character
(literary) to hold back

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

敛 has 攵, a striking or action part, for meaning, and 佥 qiān for sound, though the sound link is not clear in Mandarin. It first meant to receive or gather, then grew to collect, hold back, and restrain. Read liàn, it was borrowed for sound to mean laying out a corpse for burial.

敛 as a component in other characters

sound2 characters
潋蔹

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Same Characters, Different Readings

敛liàn
variant of 殮|殓[lian4]

Homophones

HSK 3
脸liǎn
face

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