shǎn flash Simplified

Original meaning: peek

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

Components

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

Sources

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

shuò, yuè, lì melt Simplified

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sound component
lè, yuè happy, music

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

shǎn flash Traditional

Original meaning: peek

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

Components

Iconic component
mén, men door
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

melt Traditional

Components

Meaning component
jīn metal

metal

Sound component
lè, yuè happy, music

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsyakr̥ ewk (W dialect: *r̥ - > *x-, palatalizing)melt, infuse
Zhengzhangqʰljawɢ
Unicodeshiɑk

說文解字

銷金也。从金樂聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica