䤡 (iron character)

It is a rare Han character meaning “iron.”

In Mandarin, its reading is rǎn, written in Pinyin—the standard Latin-letter system for Mandarin sounds—and pronounced roughly “ran,” with a tone that dips and rises. The left component 金 marks metal; 冉 on the right is linked to the sound.

玉篇, a Chinese dictionary compiled in 543 during the Liang dynasty, gives the iron meaning. As of 2026, the dictionary trail shows 䤡 in 玉篇 but not 說文解字, an earlier Chinese character dictionary; later works such as 集韻 and the Kangxi dictionary also preserve it. The attestation dates dictionary use by 543, not the first writing of the form.