閃
shǎn HSK4

flash

Original meaning: peek

Depicts a person (人) peeking through the space in the middle of a door (門). Based on the original meaning "peek". The meaning later shifted to "dodge" and "flash".

Components

門
門 Iconic component
mén, men door
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhanghljamʔ
hljams
Unicodeshiɛ̌m

說文解字

《說文》:“閃,闚頭門中也。从人在門中。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica

闪 shǎn flash Simplified

Original meaning: peek

Simplified form of 閃. Depicts a person (人) peeking through the space in the middle of a door (门). Based on the original meaning "peek". The meaning later shifted to "dodge" and "flash".

Components

门
门 Iconic component
mén, men door
人
人 Iconic component
rén, ren person

Sources

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