Chinese Character Wiki
斷

duàn

break, sever

Depicts cutting off threads (丝) with an axe (斤)

Components
丝 iconic component

丝  Iconic component

sī

  

silk, threads

丝 iconic component

丝  Iconic component

sī

  

silk, threads

斤 iconic component

斤  Iconic component

jīn

  

axe

Evolution

斷 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
斷 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

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

Clerical script

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

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

断 (斷) 

duàn

sever, cut off; interrupt; to break; to snap; to cut off; to give up or abstain from sth; to judge; (usu. used in the negative) absolutely; definitely; decidedly

Most common words with 斷
Freq.
Word
Meaning

不断

unceasing

断

to break

判断

to judge

诊断

diagnosis

打断

to interrupt

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*N-tˤo[n]ʔ

dwanX

duàn

be cut in two

*tˤo[n]ʔ

twanX

duàn

cut in two

*tˤo[n]ʔ-s

twanH

duàn

cut off; decide


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 63.5272% of movies

683rd most common character in movies

434th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

18

Simplified

断

Unicode

U+65B7

Shuowen

“，截也。从斤，从。，古文絕。，古文从，，古文叀字。《周書》曰：‘猗無他技。’亦古文。”


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