闪光弹
shǎn​guāng​dàn

flashbang

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

光 guāng light

Pictograph of fire on top of a person.

Components

火
火 Iconic component
huǒ fire
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 火 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
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 Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 6 verified)

晃恍胱觥咣桄

Meaning (1 of 3 verified)

辉耀輝

Iconic (2)

参參

Remnant (2)

参參

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkwangkʷˤaŋ light, brightness

說文解字

《說文》：“光，明也。从火在人上，光明意也。，古文。炗，古文。”

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)

弹 dàn, tán, tan bullet, pellet Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 单 represents the sound. Simplified form of 彈.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
单
单 Sound component
dān single

Sources

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

閃 shǎn flash Traditional

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
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

彈 dàn, tán, tan bullet, pellet Traditional

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

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
單
單 Sound component
dān single

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 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

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdanH[d]ˤar-s pellet
danCə.dˤar shoot pellets
dan[d]ˤar shoot pellets

說文解字

《說文》：“彈，行丸也。从弓，單聲。，或从弓持丸。”

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)