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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

案

àn
long table; counter
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 4
  • radical 木
  • 10 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • derived
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  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *qaːns): semantic 木 + phonetic 安 (OC *qaːn).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese木 “tree; woody plant”
  • soundChinese安 “calm; peaceful; tranquil; quiet”
    • meaningChinese宀 “a type of deep house with walls on all four sides, a roof, a main hall, and back rooms”
    • soundChinese女₂ “a seated 女 on a cushion”

Words built on it: 答案, 方案

Meanings

character
  1. long table; counter
  2. long board that serves as a table or counter
  3. case (legal matter, proceeding or lawsuit)
  4. event; incident; occurrence
  5. record; file
  6. plan submitted for consideration; proposal

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

案：几屬。从木安聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 長方形的桌子。 例：案頭、神案、伏案疾書
  2. 與公務相關的書面資料、記錄。 例：備案、翻案、檔案
  3. 提出的計畫、建議。 例：腹案、草案、議案
  4. 泛指牽涉到法律或政治的事件。 例：命案、訟案、五三慘案
  5. 古代盛飯食的短足木盤。 例：舉案齊眉
  6. 研查考證後所作的說明、註解或論斷。同「按」。 例：編者案

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

How 案 was written 字形演變

  1. 案 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  2. 案 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 案 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: 案