CJK Unified Ideograph-6Aec

It means “coffin,” especially the inner coffin in older usage. The earliest source located for this page is the Han-era 《說文解字》 Shuowen Jiezi, compiled around 100 CE and submitted in 121 CE; its entry glosses 櫬 as 棺 (“coffin”) and analyzes it as 木 plus the phonetic 親. A Zuozhuan example has Mu Jiang choosing fine catalpa wood to make her own 櫬, showing the object behind the word: a wooden inner coffin. It is an early lexical record, not a single inventor. In this research pass, no opened source established an earlier oracle-bone or bronze attestation.

Later Chinese lexicons broaden the sense from inner coffin to coffin generally. They also record plant senses: Chinese parasol/tung tree and a hibiscus-family plant. A Japanese reference keeps the coffin reading as ひつぎ and lists tree senses too, so language and context can change the gloss.

Why would someone send 櫬 to me?

Alone, it reads as literary “coffin,” not a reaction. 櫬 is a literary Han-script character, not a sad-face shorthand. If someone sends only 櫬, read it literally first and ask for the surrounding sentence before assigning grief, threat, or a private joke; the same character can point to a coffin, a historical phrase, or a plant name.

The historical compound 輿櫬 — putting a coffin on a carriage — turns the object into a political gesture: surrender with readiness to die. 面縛輿櫬 adds bound hands and means surrender while asking for punishment. That is why 櫬 can carry a ritual or political reading in classical prose.

Which characters should you not confuse with 櫬?

Check the left radical: 木 marks 櫬; 衣 marks 襯. 櫬 and 襯 are both chèn, but 木 identifies the coffin/tree character while 衣 identifies the clothing character: lining, underwear, setting off, or helping. In simplified Chinese, 櫬 becomes 榇; that is a written-form change, not a different message.

The related term 椁/槨 is specifically the outer coffin surrounding the coffin proper, while 櫬 names the inner coffin in older usage. In a classical sentence, that inner-outer distinction can be deliberate.