灿烂
càn​làn HSK7

bright

灿 càn vivid Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 山 represents the sound. Simplified form of 燦.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
山
山 Sound component
shān mountain

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

烂 làn rotten Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 兰 represents the sound. Simplified form of 爛.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
兰
兰 Sound component
lán orchid

Sources

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

燦 càn vivid Traditional

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire

fire

粲
粲 Sound component
càn polish

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangsʰaːns

說文解字

燦爤，明瀞皃。从火粲聲。

Sources

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

爛 làn rotten Traditional

Phonosemantic compound. 火 represents the meaning and 闌 represents the sound.

Components

火
火 Meaning component
huǒ fire
闌
闌 Sound component
door screen

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartlanH[r]ˤan-s cooked until soft

說文解字

《說文》：“爤，孰也。从火，蘭聲。燗，或从閒。”

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)