Chinese Character Wiki
彈

dàn, tán

bullet, pellet

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

Components
弓 meaning component

弓  Meaning component

gōng

  

bow

單 sound component

單  Sound component

dān, shàn

  

single

Evolution

彈 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
彈 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
彈 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
彈 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

弹 (彈) 

dàn

pellet, bullet, shot, shell; crossball; bullet; shot; shell; ball

弹 (彈) 

tán

to pluck (a string); to play (a string instrument); to spring or leap; to shoot (e.g. with a catapult); (of cotton) to fluff or tease; to flick; to flip; to accuse; to impeach; elastic (of materials)

Most common words with 彈
Freq.
Word
Meaning

弹

to flick

炸弹

bomb

子弹

bullet

反弹

to bounce

导弹

guided missile

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[d]ˤar-s

danH

dàn

pellet

*Cə.dˤar

dan

tán

shoot pellets

*[d]ˤar

dan

tán

shoot pellets


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 45.0905% of movies

575th most common character in movies

632nd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

15

Simplified

弹

Unicode

U+5F48

Shuowen

“彈，行丸也。从弓，單聲。，或从弓持丸。”


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