HEN-3

('hen' in the third tone)

Only about six Chinese characters are spoken 'hen'. They all contain as sound-determining element the character 艮 = gen = leathery. 艮 is also the sound-determining element in almost all characters spoken 'gen'. By itself, the character 艮 is, however, archaic. While it is included in dictionaries, it is, in modern Chinese,  practically not used, and many ordinary Chinese may not know the meanings.

很 = very

很少 = hen(3)shao(3) = few