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

端

duān

to hold something level with hand

Phono-semantic compound 形聲
HSK 6
TOCFL 6
radical 立
14 strokes

Etymology graph

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *toːn): semantic 立 + phonetic 耑 (OC *toːn).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

meaningChinese立 “to stand”
soundChinese耑

Meanings

character

to hold something level with hand
end; tip
beginning; start
upright; erect
decent; upright; proper
to wipe out; to destroy altogether

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

端：直也。从立耑聲。

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

國語辭典 definitions

物的一頭。例：筆端、末端、尖端
事情的起始。例：發端、開端、事端
項目、方面。例：變化多端、詭計多端、舉其一端
正、正直。例：端正、端莊、品行不端
以手平正的托、拿。例：端茶、端菜、端碗　◎
舉出。例：今天大家把所有問題端出來談。

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

How 端 was written 字形演變

Chu slips & silk
楚系簡帛
Warring States
Small seal
說文小篆
Shuowen, c. 100 CE
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
Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Wiktionary: 端