旃檀
zhān​tán

sandalwood

旃 zhān silk banner with bent pole

Depicts a type of ancient flag (㫃) that was colored red (丹) and had a bent pole.

Components

㫃
㫃 Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
丹
丹 SoundMeaning component
dān, dan cinnabar

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

栴

Remnant (1)

栴

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangtjan
Unicodejiɛn

說文解字

《說文》：“旃，旗曲柄也，所以旃表士眾。从，丹聲。《周禮》曰：‘通帛為旃。’旜，旃或从亶。”

Sources

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

檀 tán, shàn sandalwood

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree

tree

亶
亶 Sound component
dǎn, dàn, chán sincere

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangdaːn
Unicodedhɑn

說文解字

木也。从木亶聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)