zhān

silk banner with bent pole

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

Components

Meaning component
yǎn flags flying
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)

Remnant (1)

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