暂缺
zàn​quē

unavailable

暂 zàn temporary Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 斩 represents the sound. Simplified form of 暫.

Components

斩
斩 Sound component
zhǎn, zhàn chop
日
日 Meaning component
rì sun

Sources

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

缺 quē be short of, lack

Original meaning: damaged object

Phonosemantic compound. 缶 represents the meaning and 夬 represents the sound.

Components

缶
缶 Meaning component
fǒu pottery
Change in meaning
缶 hints at the original meaning of 缺, "damaged object", which is no longer the most common meaning of 缺 in modern Mandarin.
夬
夬 Sound component
guài, jué parted
Change in sound

Character Evolution

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
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartkhwetNə-[k]ʷʰˤet break; defective

說文解字

《說文》：“缺，器破也。从缶，決省聲。”

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)

暫 zàn temporary Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 日 represents the meaning and 斬 represents the sound.

Components

斬
斬 Sound component
chop
日
日 Meaning component
rì sun

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzamH[dz]ˤam-s suddenly

說文解字

《說文》：“暫，不久也。从日，斬聲。”

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)