Chinese character 瞝

It means “to survey” or “look over.”

The Mandarin reading is chī in pinyin: roughly the “ch” in “cheese,” with a high, level tone. Jia Yi uses 瞝九州 in 《吊屈原赋》 (“Lament for Qu Yuan”), a poem for the earlier poet Qu Yuan. Here 九州 (“the Nine Regions”) names the realm being surveyed, with its rulers assessed.

Jia Yi wrote the poem in 176 BCE while exiled to Changsha.

Why might you see 历 instead?

It is a wording difference between transmitted versions.

The Shiji (“Records of the Grand Historian”) line reads 瞝九州而相君兮. A simplified Chinese transcription of 《汉书》 (“Book of Han”) has 历九州而相其君兮. These are different wordings in transmitted copies; a dictionary separately lists 𣉽 as a variant form of 瞝. Quote the form printed in the edition you are using.

Can 瞝 be a spoken word?

Yes, but the reported spoken use is local to Zhangshu.

A 2026 first-person account by a Zhangshu native in Jiangxi describes 瞝 as a local spoken verb in Gan, a regional Chinese variety, meaning “look.” The writer says it can emphasize careful or clear looking and, in some contexts, mean “look after”; the account presents it as an old Chinese word retained in local speech, not a general Mandarin definition.