散

The original version visible on oracle bone script is 㪔, hence Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 林 (“trees, forest”) + 攴 (“to knock, to tap”), also written with hemp stalks 𣏟 (> 𢽳) or bamboo 竹 instead of two trees. The original meanings are "to clear a place from vegetation; to kill". The character later started meaning "to dissipate, to disperse" since bamboo in particular breaks easily into pieces; eventually, the meaning shifted to "to walk around, to stroll".

Shuowen: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *saːnʔ, *saːns): semantic 肉 + phonetic 𢽳, written as 𣀙, in which 林 is well visible on top.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sjwar ~ g/b-sjwa-n/t (“flow; pour; scatter; spill; sow; broadcast”). Cognate with 撒 (OC *saːd, “to cast away; to let go”), 宣 (OC *sqʰon, “to spread; to proclaim”), Tibetan འཆོར་བ ('chor ba, “to escape; to flow out”), Burmese သွန် (swan, “to pour out; to spill”), Lahu šē (“to sow; to broadcast”), Lahu šêʔ (“to pour; to spill; to disperse; to sow; to broadcast”).