wén

line

trace; mark; pattern; grain (of wood etc)

silk (纟) + pattern sound (文) = lines and grain in fabric or wood

The silk radical grounds the meaning in woven threads and their visible texture. 文 gives the sound wén and also carries a happy coincidence: it originally depicted decorative body markings, echoing the idea of pattern.

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WritingPhonetic
ThreadSemantic

这块木头的理很漂亮。

zhè kuài mù tou de wén lǐ hěn piào liang。

The grain of this piece of wood is very beautiful.

她脸上的皱越来越深了。

tā liǎn shàng de zhòu wén yuè lái yuè shēn le。

The wrinkles on her face are getting deeper and deeper.

Words with 纹

饕餮纹

tāo tiè wén

zoomorphic mask motif

鱼尾纹

yú wěi wén

wrinkles of the skin

黄纹拟啄木鸟

huáng wén nǐ zhuó mù niǎo

(bird species of China) green-eared barbet (Psilopogon faiostrictus)

龙纹

lóng wén

dragon (as a decorative design)

条纹

tiáo wén

stripe

冠纹柳莺

guān wén liǔ yīng

(bird species of China) Claudia's leaf warbler (Phylloscopus claudiae)

凹纹

āo wén

die (printing, metalwork etc)

刺花纹

cì huā wén

to tattoo

平纹

píng wén

plain weave

指纹

zhǐ wén

fingerprint

斑纹

bān wén

stripe

斜纹

xié wén

(textiles) twill

More characters with 纟

绿