zuò​chán

meditate

zuò sit

Depicts two people () sitting on the ground ().

Components

Iconic component
rén, ren person
Iconic component
rén, ren person
Iconic component
earth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 8 verified)

Meaning (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzwaX[dz]ˤo[j]ʔ sit
dzwaXm-[dz]ˤo[j]ʔ to set
dzwaH[dz]ˤo[j]ʔ-s seat n.

說文解字

《說文》:“,止也。从土,从留省,土,所止也。此與留同意。坐,古文坐。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.909
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

chán, shàn, tán meditation Simplified

To pray  alone  also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
shì show
SoundMeaning component
dān single

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

meditation Traditional

Components

Meaning component
shì show
Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzyenH[d]ar-s hand over to another

說文解字

《說文》:“禪,祭天也。从示,單聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica