掸 (dǎn): to dust off

Meanings

1 to dust off
2 to flick away (dust or insects)
3 to whisk

Characters

掸

dǎn

to flick, to dust off

Examples

她用毛巾掸去书架上的灰尘。

Tā yòng máojīn dǎn qù shūjià shàng de huīchén.

She dusted off the bookshelf with a cloth.

他掸了掸衣服上的土。

Tā dǎn le dǎn yīfu shàng de tǔ.

He flicked the dirt off his clothes.

Tips

usage

掸 is often used with 掸子 (feather duster). The reduplicated form 掸了掸 suggests a light, casual action.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

扌 is the left-side simplified hand radical (手 in standalone form). It marks 掸 as a hand-action verb - here, brushing or flicking dust away with a quick wrist motion. Family includes 拍 (pat), 扫 (sweep), 拭 (wipe), 摸 (touch); all share the hand-doing-work signal.

phonetic

单 dān

single; alone

单 supplies the sound - initial preserved, rime drifted slightly with tone shift to third (dǎn). Same phonetic powers 弹 (bullet/spring), 蝉 (cicada), 禅 (Zen). No semantic load here - purely the sound-anchor that distinguishes 掸 from sibling hand-radical flick-and-brush verbs.