Hai Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Fish (yú) Character: Xian Kangxi Strokes: 33 Page 1480, Entry 50 Guangyun (Guangyun) and Jiyun (Jiyun) both record the pronunciation as xian. Shuowen Jiezi (Shuowen) states: It is the essence of fresh fish. Annotation: Xu Kai states: The three characters signify a multitude. A multitude that does not change is xian. Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), Office of Heaven, Chef: For all items whether dead or alive, fresh or dried, they are provided for the royal table. Annotation: Xian refers to fresh meat. Sub-commentary: That which is newly killed is called xian. Also, Jiyun (Jiyun) records the pronunciation as xian (rising tone). The character xian (few) is sometimes written in the variant form xian. It means few.