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旃

zhān
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 a red curved-pole banner
  2. 2 felt (variant of 毡)

Examples

古代用旃作军营的门。
Gǔdài yòng zhān
In ancient times a red banner with a curved pole was set up as the gate of a military camp.
被匈奴扣留的使者嚼旃毛吞下充饥。
Zhān
The envoy detained by the Xiongnu chewed felt and swallowed it to survive.

Tips

history
Originally 旃 was a red banner on a bent pole used as a camp gate. By sound loan it also wrote 毡 (felt), as in the story of 苏武 eating felt and snow while held captive.

Components

radical
方 fāng
square; banner-side
Here 方 with the two flutter strokes after it forms the flag element 㫃, indexed under 方. It runs through banner characters like 旗 and 旌.
phonetic
丹 dān
cinnabar; red
丹 gives the sound, shifted from dān to zhān, and its sense of cinnabar red faintly echoes the banner's red color.

Stroke Order

旃 zhān