Zi Collection, Page Position: Lower
Radical: Knife (dāo)
Kangxi Stroke Count: 19
Page 145, Number 38
Tang Rhymes (Tangyun): Pronounced according to the fanqie spelling chu-xian. Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) and Rhyme Assembly (Yunhui): Pronounced according to the fanqie spelling chu-xian. The pronunciation is the same as the character chan.
Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) defines the character as to cut off or sever. The character form is derived from the Radical: Knife (dao), with chan providing the sound. Another interpretation is to plagiarize or to pare and carve.
Xu Kai’s commentary notes that chan means the act of chiseling and carving.
"If one were to ride the intoxication and gallop through the grand and strange, how could the Creator withstand such engraving and chiseling?" — Poem Responding to Lu Ting of the Department of Gates (Chou Simen Lu Ting Shi)
Also, the Collected Rhymes (Jiyun) provides a pronunciation according to the fanqie spelling shi-jian. It is pronounced the same as chan. The meaning is the same.