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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

斷

/tu̯än⁵¹/
to break; to snap; to cut
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 6
  • radical 斤
  • 18 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 𢇍 (“to cut”) + 斤 (“axe”).

Before the Qin dynasty, this character was written as 𠸿 or 𠜷. According to Shuowen, the left component is an old form of 叀.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dan (“to cut”). Compare Mizo tan (“to cut”) (STEDT).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*dan “to cut”
  • ideaChinese𢇍 “to cut”
  • ideaChinese斤 “catty or jin, a traditional unit of weight, equal to 0.5 kilograms”

Related: Mizo tan

Meanings

character
  1. to break; to snap; to cut
  2. to cut off; to sever; to interrupt
  3. to give up; to abstain from; to quit
  4. to not have; to be without; there is not

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 長條形的物品，從中間分成幾段截開。 例：割斷、砍斷、剪斷　◎
  2. 隔絕、不延續。 例：斷絕、中斷、恩斷義絕
  3. 戒除、禁絕。 例：斷奶、斷食、斷水
  4. 決定、判定。 例：斷定、決斷、判斷
  5. 絕對、一定。 例：斷然、斷無此理、斷斷不可

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

How 斷 was written 字形演變

  1. 斷 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 斷 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 斷 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 斷 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 斷 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
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 斷