What 酐 means
Modern Chinese chemistry uses 酐 for anhydride. An anhydride is a compound formed by removing water from an acid; 酸酐 means “acid anhydride.” The character also appears in terms such as 碳酐 and 亞硫酐.
The Chinese dictionary 玉篇, compiled around 543, records an older meaning: bitter wine. Mandarin pinyin writes this old reading hǎng with a low third tone, while the modern chemistry reading is gān with a high, level first tone. In an old text, check the date and nearby words before assuming the chemistry sense.
A technical term in modern Chinese chemistry; older Chinese also uses it for bitter wine.
In an old Chinese text, don't assume it means anhydride.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsCombination ideas
3Questions people ask
1Why does 酐 look different in different fonts?
Yes. Typefaces can draw 酐 with different stroke shapes; Taiwan's CNS11643 font samples from 2024 show more than one outline. The character remains 酐.
How to type 酐
酐\9150Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.