The basic meaning of "dip" is to take a dip in a liquid, powder, or paste and hold it out, as in the case of a dip pen. It is a standardized Grade 2 character in modern Chinese, pronounced zhàn in Mandarin, first seen in the Qin seal script, and is a morpho-sound character in the Six Books.

Dipping, first seen in Qin Zhuan (秦篆), originally meant to dip a liquid with something. It has gradually evolved into the regular script form and the simplified version of the character "蘸". The word "dip" is used to form words: dip wine, dip break, dip ink, dip and take, dip and stand, dip steel, full dip.