弹丸
dàn​wán

pellet

弹 dàn, tán, tan bullet, pellet Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 彈.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
单
单 Sound component
dān single

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

丸 wán small round object

Derived from 夗. Pictograph of a dying animal lying down. The meaning later shifted to "small round object", "pellet" and "pill".

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

芄纨紈

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarthwan[ɢ]ʷˤar pellet; ball
hwanɦʷˤar (< *[ɢ]ʷˤar)烏丸 Wūhuán: Avars (W. Hàn)

說文解字

《說文》：“丸，圜，傾側而轉者。从反仄。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.726劉釗《古文字構形學》p.128
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

彈 dàn, tán, tan bullet, pellet Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 單 represents the sound.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
單
單 Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdanH[d]ˤar-s pellet
danCə.dˤar shoot pellets
dan[d]ˤar shoot pellets

說文解字

《說文》：“彈，行丸也。从弓，單聲。，或从弓持丸。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)