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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

單

dān
single; individual; solitary
  • Pictogram
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 口
  • 12 strokes
  • 单

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Origin

Pictogram (象形) of a war or hunting weapon, a Y-shaped wooden stick with two stones attached on top. The component in the middle in some oracle bones was a huge point which represented a rope around the stick; perhaps, this weapon was used as a spear and then retrieved through this rope. Otherwise, the huge point in the middle was another stone attached to the stick. The huge point was then stylized as an horizontal trait, as 口 (the stick resembled 中) and eventually as 田. The horizontal stroke at the bottom of the character was added later.

An alternative theory suggests that it represents a net to catch animals with two weights on top, but the huge point in the middle of the character in some oracle bones may not be a web or net.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tar(l) (“single; one; whole; only”). Cognate with 但 (OC *daːn, *daːnʔ, *daːns, “only; but”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

Words built on it: 戰, 簡單, 彈

Meanings

character
  1. single; individual; solitary
  2. thin; narrow; faint
  3. simple; uncomplicated
  4. unlined
  5. cover; bed sheet
  6. list; register; catalogue

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

單：大也。从吅、�，吅亦聲。闕。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. →單縣
  2. 姓。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 單 was written 字形演變

  1. 單 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 單 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 單 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 單 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 單 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 單