yán

Yin, written in Chinese as 印 and pronounced yìn in Standard Mandarin, is a common character with senses linked to sealing, stamping, and imprinting. As a noun it denotes a seal or emblem; as a verb it can mean to seal, imprint, or stamp something. In modern Chinese it appears in many compounds, such as 印刷 (yìnshuā, printing), 印象 (yìnxiàng, impression), 印章 (yìnzhāng, seal), and 印记 (yìnjì, imprint or mark). The core idea across these terms is the notion of leaving a sign, certification, or visible result.

Etymology and form: 印 historically connotes a seal and its stamped impression. In oracle bone script and later script styles it evolved from depictions related to marks or stamps, and by classical times it had extended to mean the seal itself as well as any sign of approval or identification. Because of this semantic drift, 印 functions as a productive element in many words tied to marking, certifying, or authenticating.

Usage and identity: The character is widely used in East Asian languages. In Chinese it remains foundational for ideas of printing, marking, and certification. In Japanese, 印 is read primarily as in (on’yomi) and occurs in compounds such as 印刷 (insatsu, printing) and 印象 (inshō, impression). In Korean, Sino-Korean readings such as in are used in related compounds and loanwords.

Unicode: 印 is encoded as U+5370.