謜

It describes slow, measured speech; doubled, it can describe a steady arrival.

Its earliest clear written record appears in the Shuowen Jiezi, a Chinese character dictionary compiled around 100 CE. It defines 謜 as “slow speech,” analyzing it as 言, a speech-related element, plus 原 as a sound element. Dictionaries also record a sense of pleasing speech.

Is 謜 the same as 源 or 原?

No; they are textually connected, but they are not interchangeable.

The Shuowen Jiezi quotes the doubled form 謜謜 in a line from the Mencius about a continuing arrival; the wording passed down is 源源而來. Traditional commentary links 謜 with 源 and names 原 as an older form. A scholarly review treats this proposed relationship as a disputed textual reconstruction, not proof of the original wording.