Chinese character 寲

Read 寲 first as “examine”; “convenient” and “difficult” are also recorded glosses.

The Ministry of Education's Chinese-character dictionary cites 察 (“examine”) in 玉篇, then gives 便 (“convenient”) and 難 (“difficult”) in the later 篇海類編. It notes that the earlier character dictionary 說文解字 has no entry for 寲. For a historical passage, let the surrounding words decide which gloss fits.

Its earliest cited source is 玉篇

No oracle-bone or bronze inscription for 寲 is recorded through 2026. Its earliest cited source is 玉篇, a Chinese character dictionary compiled in China's Liang dynasty around 543; the expanded 大廣益會玉篇 was revised in 1013.

玉篇 entries recorded fanqie, an older way to indicate pronunciation by pairing sound clues from two characters, along with definitions and notes. For 寲, this trail is one of dictionary preservation and explanation.

How do I type 寲?

Use Cangjie JPKO, or try Mandarin Pinyin yí.

Cangjie enters Chinese characters by their component shapes. Enter JPKO in a Cangjie-enabled input method; with Mandarin Pinyin, enter yí and inspect the candidates. For a one-off, a dictionary or character lookup can be quicker than searching homophones.