漸

1. Incremental Progress: To advance step-by-step toward a goal, often implying an upward or outward trajectory.

2. Saturation and Permeation: The physical process of soaking, infiltrating, or gradually filling; the transition from dry to wet via slow absorption.

3. Maturation: A gradual arrival at a state of readiness, completion, or proper position.

• Adverbial: Modifying a verb to indicate that an action occurs gradually.
• Verbal: To advance incrementally; to soak or saturate.
• Nominal: The process of gradual progression itself.

• vs. 慢 (slow): While 慢 refers to the speed of an action, 漸 refers to the nature of the progression toward a state or goal.
• vs. 浸 (soak/saturate): 浸 typically emphasizes the act of immersion, whereas 漸 emphasizes the temporal transition and the slow process of soaking over time.
• Yi Jing Tradition: In texts influenced by Hexagram ䷴, the term carries a connotation of legitimacy; progress is viewed as secure only when it follows an ordered sequence, contrasting with the precariousness of sudden arrival.

// Tang-period reading: //dzhiɛ̌m.

• Simplified variant: 渐 (U+6E10).

The term exists on a spectrum of connotation determined by context: it may be positive/strategic (steady growth, stability), neutral (simple temporal progression), or ominous (the slow encroachment of a force or gradual decline).