床单
chuáng​dān

bedsheet

床 chuáng bed

Depicts a bed (爿) made from wood (木). Originally written as 爿 or 牀.

Components

爿
爿 SoundIconic component
pán, qiáng piece of wood

Depicts a bed.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爿 than it was in ancient scripts.
木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzrjangk.dzraŋbed
Zhengzhangzraŋ
Unicodejrhiɑng

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.489-490漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang

单 dān single Simplified

Original meaning: hunting tool

Simplified form of 單. Pictograph of a hunting tool or weapon constructed from rocks tied to a tree branch. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Component uses

Sound (1 of 14 verified)

弹禅阐蝉惮婵郸掸觯殚箪瘅冁啴

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

禅

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

蕲

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.105中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

單 dān single Traditional

Original meaning: hunting tool

Pictograph of a hunting tool or weapon constructed from rocks tied to a tree branch. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 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
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (4 of 15 verified)

蟬鼉禪簞闡彈撣囅戰憚嘽嬋殫癉鄲

Iconic (2)

兽獸

Simplified (1)

兽

Unknown (0 of 1 verified)

蘄

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzyendar (< *[d]ar)單于 chányú: Xiōngnú ruler (W. Hàn)
tanCə.tˤar single, simple

說文解字

《說文》：“單，大也。从吅、，吅亦聲。闕。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.105中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)