闡
chǎn

explain

Phonosemantic compound. 門 represents the meaning and 單 represents the sound.

Components

門
門 Meaning component
mén, men door
單
單 Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangtʰjanʔ

說文解字

開也。从門單聲。《易》曰：“闡幽。”

Sources

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

阐 chǎn explain Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 门 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 闡.

Components

门
门 Meaning component
mén, men door
单
单 Sound component
dān single

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode