zhǎn
chop
Phonosemantic compound. 車 represents the sound and 斤 represents the meaning.
Evolution

Bronze script
Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)
Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical script
Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)Regular script
ModernMost common words with 斬
Freq. | Word | Meaning |
---|---|---|
to chop | ||
to behead | ||
to cut off | ||
to eliminate completely | ||
unhesitating |
Sources