Chinese character 緅

It names blue-red or dark-red silk, and the color of that silk.

Classical Chinese glosses describe a blue-red or dark-red shade and silk dyed that color. The terms point to a dye range, not one exact modern color swatch.

A form of 緅 appears in Chu writing on slips or silk in the Warring States period; a later small-seal form is recorded in the Shuowen, an early Chinese dictionary. The Zhouli, a classical text on ritual and government, says five immersions deepen red cloth with black dye to make 緅.

Why does 緅 appear with 紺 and 緇?

It belongs to a vocabulary for dyed cloth and dress.

In an Analects passage, 紺緅飾 names clothing trim. Traditional commentaries say those colors were avoided on collars or sleeve edges because they could resemble clothing worn for fasting or three-year mourning.

Classical dyeing terms also order 纁, 緅, and 緇 by repeated baths: three immersions for 纁, five for 緅, and seven for 緇, the darkest stage.

What does 緅 mean when someone sends it?

Read it as a rare word, not a clear reaction.

As of 2026, no established stand-alone reaction use is documented. Without a classical or textile context, a recipient may take it for a typo or a character their font cannot display.

Use 紺緅 when referring to the classical trim phrase, or 五入為緅 for the five-immersion dye formula.