Character: 參
Modern (Beijing) reading: cān
Preclassic Old Chinese: shǝ̄m
Classic Old Chinese: shǝ̄m
Western Han Chinese: shǝ̄m
Eastern Han Chinese: shǝ̄m
Early Postclassic Chinese: shǝ̄m
Middle Postclassic Chinese: shǝ̄m
Late Postclassic Chinese: shǝ̄m
Middle Chinese: chʌm
English meaning : be a unit of three, be threefold
Russian meaning[s]: 1) участвовать; принять участие; 2) посетить, явиться на аудиенцию; 3) обвинить, вынести обвинение, осудить, признать виновным (чиновника контрольными органами); 4) испытать, проверить; [shēn] 1) жэньшэнь; 2) трепанги; 3) Орион (созвездие); [sān] три (прописное начертание)
Shuowen gloss: 商星也.從晶.�聲.
Comments: The character is used for three different words:
1) *srǝm, MC ṣim (FQ 所今), Mand. shēn, Viet. sâm 'name of a constellation of seven stars, Orion'. This is the basic meaning of the graph as defined in Shuowen (although Shuowen's considering ** as phonetic is certainly erroneous: the phonetic is most probably 三 *sǝ̄m). (also used in the plant name: 人參 'ginseng').
2) *shǝ̄m, MC chлm, Mand. cān 'be a unit of three, be threefold; to accumulate ( < *'to gather a threesome unit'?)'. This word is most obviously related etymologically to 三 *sǝ̄m 'three' q.v.
3) *shrǝm, MC c̣him (FQ 楚簪), Mand. cēn 'be uneven, irregular'. This reading is used in the compound 參差 *shrǝm-shraj 'be graduated, of different length'.
Radical: 28
Four-angle index: 4122
Karlgren code: 0647 a-b
Vietnamese reading: tham
Shijing occurrences: 1.2, 21.2
