yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements

yǎn

“a marsh at the foot of the hills, (interchangeable 湢 沇) name of a river”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese jin5. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Lead

metal → solid metal
+
yǎn
=
qiān · Pb 82

Not a plain transliteration: the component was chosen for its meaning, or the name is older than the system.

The reading drifted: the component is read yǎn, the element qiān.