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垫

墊
diàn
verb HSK 7-9 #5,107

Meanings

  1. 1 to pad
  2. 2 to cushion
  3. 3 to put something under
  4. 4 to advance (money)

Examples

椅子太低了，垫个垫子吧。
Yǐzi tài dī le, diàn gè diànzi ba.
The chair is too low; put a cushion on it.
你先帮我垫一下钱，我明天还你。
Nǐ xiān bāng wǒ diàn yīxià qián, wǒ míngtiān huán nǐ.
Can you cover the money for me first? I'll pay you back tomorrow.

Tips

usage
垫钱 means to advance/front money for someone temporarily. 垫付 is the more formal version.

Components

radical
土 tǔ
earth; soil
Bottom 土 (earth) — the indexing radical. The original picture was packed soil laid down to level a sunken floor — a primordial cushion or pad. From there the meaning generalised to any cushion (坐垫 seat cushion) and the verb 'to pad, to lay down underneath' (垫钱 lay out money in advance).
phonetic
执 zhí
to hold; grasp
Top 执 supplies the sound — zhí → diàn shows significant drift (the traditional 墊 had 執 as exact phonetic; the modern simplified pair preserves the link). 执 originally pictured a kneeling person held by manacles: the act of fixing in place suits 'cushion that holds something steady.'

Stroke Order

垫 diàn