Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
Historical forms are not available yet. The current form is shown as a reference.
The character 浸 evolved from ancient pictographs representing water penetrating or soaking into something. In Liushutong classification, it belongs to the 'ideogrammic compound' (会意) category, combining the water radical (氵) with the component 彐/帚 (which in ancient forms resembled something being submerged). The original meaning was 'to soak,' 'to immerse,' or 'to permeate,' depicting the action of liquid gradually spreading through a substance. Over time, the character simplified while maintaining its core concept of penetration by water, eventually stabilizing into the modern form 浸. Arrived in Japan: The character 浸 likely arrived in Japan during the 5th-6th centuries CE as part of the broader introduction of Chinese writing system (kanji) through Buddhist texts and cultural exchange with China and Korea. It appears in early Japanese documents like the 8th-century Man'yōshū poetry anthology, indicating it was established in Japanese writing by the Nara period (710-794 CE).