Inkstone

Inkstone
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	硯臺
Simplified Chinese	砚台
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin yàntái IPA jɛn⁵¹ tʰaɪ̯¹ Wu Romanization 6gni-de Gan Romanization nyien5 tai Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization yihn tòih Jyutping jin6 toi4 IPA jiːn²² tʰɔːi̯²¹
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	墨硯
Simplified Chinese	墨砚
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Jyutping mak6 jin6-2
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	nghiên
Chữ Hán	硯
Korean name
Hangul	벼루
Transcriptions Revised Romanization byeoru
Japanese name
Kanji	硯
Hiragana	すずり
Katakana	スズリ
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn suzuri

An inkstone is traditional Chinese stationery. It is a stone mortar for the grinding and containment of ink.^[1] In addition to stone, inkstones are also manufactured from clay, bronze, iron, and porcelain. The device evolved from a rubbing tool used for rubbing dyes dating around 6000 to 7000 years ago.^[2]