刊

kān
noun #18,661

Measure Word

一本刊 běn

Meanings

  1. 1 to publish; to print
  2. 2 periodical; publication

Examples

HSK 4
Zhè běn qīkān búcuò.
This journal is good.
HSK 5
Kāndēng guǎnggào.
To publish an advertisement.

Tips

usage
期刊 = periodical/journal, 刊登 = to publish.

Components

radical
刂 dāo
knife (right-side radical form of 刀)
Right knife radical - the side-form of 刀, two strokes for a vertical blade. Indexes 刊 in the cutting family with 刻 carve, 削 pare, 切 slice. Originally 刊 meant "to cut characters into a printing block" - the literal sense behind modern "to publish" and "periodical."
phonetic
干 gān
shield; dry; trunk
Left side 干 supplies the sound through a drift: gān to kān with consonant shift. 干 originally pictured a forked weapon or pole - here purely phonetic, though the woody-stick imagery faintly chimes with wood-block printing. Same phonetic in 杆 pole, 肝 liver, 竿 bamboo pole.

Stroke Order

刊 kān