Zi Collection, Page Position: Upper Radical: Two (er) Character: gen Kangxi Dictionary Stroke Count: 6 Page Number: Page 87, Entry 4 The Collected Rimes (Jiyun) and the Rime Gathering (Yunhui) indicate the pronunciation through the fanqie method as xun-yuan. The Correct Rimes (Zhengyun) indicates the fanqie method as xi-yuan. It is pronounced the same as xuan. The Analytical Dictionary of Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) explains the meaning as to seek to propagate, or to spread and disseminate. The character is also interchangeable with the character huan, as in the foreign name Wuhuan. Note: The character gen was originally written as a variant form pronounced gen, which is distinct from the character for spanning, also pronounced gen. The character for spanning is composed of the elements for two and boat (the boat element later corrupted into its current form), while the character gen meaning to propagate is composed of the elements for two and return (the character hui), which in later generations corrupted into a form using the sun element to become gen. Additionally, according to the records of Mao Huang: In the second year of the Shaoxing era, the Ministry of Rites reviewed and determined the characters used for surnames, stipulating that characters formed with the Water (shui) radical and gen are names of bodies of water, and those formed with the Wood (mu) radical and gen are names of trees. All characters formed with the Wood (mu) radical and gen were specifically designated to be pronounced as gen. Examples include the names Gen Yi and Gen Wen in the Book of Jin (Jin Shu), as well as the passage from the Tribute of Yu (Yu Gong) section of the Book of Documents (Shangshu) stating, from Mount Xiqing following the Gen River one comes.