Mao Collection, Middle Volume
Radical: Hand (shǒu)
Kangxi strokes: 13
Page 441, Entry 16
Pronounced xuan. The meaning is to roll up sleeves to expose the arms.
Six Categories of Characters (Liushu gu): To hook up sleeves and reveal the arms.
Su Shi poem: Describes a jade-like wrist half-exposed from a green sleeve.
Ancient Sounds Transferred (Guyin zhuanzhu): In colloquial speech, there is the expression "stripping sleeves and rolling up fists."
Comprehensive Encyclopedia (Tongya): Xuan is the same as shuan; the common term for tying up clothes refers to this.
Book of Han (Hanshu), Biography of Dong Zhongshu: "Daily eroding and monthly shrinking." Meng Kang comments that the character zhuan is pronounced like xuan and means to shrink or shrivel. People commonly call it zhui; thus, qiancu is similar to xuancu. In ancient times it was written as xuan. It is now called shuan. It was originally written in a variant form.
Collected Rhymes (Jiyun): Sometimes also written in a variant form. It is also written as huan. See the entry for the variant character for details.