篆 (zhuàn) · seal script (a calligraphic style), seal (of office)

Meanings

1 seal script (a calligraphic style)
2 seal (of office)

Characters

篆

zhuàn

seal script

Examples

HSK 7-9

这块古碑上的字是用篆书写的。

Zhè kuài gǔ bēi shang de zì shì yòng zhuànshū xiě de.

The characters on this ancient stone tablet are written in seal script.

HSK 7-9

他擅长刻印章，尤其喜爱篆体。

Tā shàncháng kè yìnzhāng, yóuqí xǐ'ài zhuàn tǐ.

He is good at carving seals and especially loves seal script.

Tips

culture

篆 names the oldest mainstream calligraphic style, split into great seal 大篆 and small seal 小篆. It is still the default script for carved name seals today.

Components

radical

⺮ zhú

bamboo

⺮ is the bamboo radical in its top-cap form, the standalone 竹 compressed above. It points to the bamboo slips ancient seal-script texts were written on.

phonetic

彖 tuàn

judgement; phonetic

彖 supplies the sound (the reading drifted from tuàn to zhuàn). It also appears in the related family of characters built on this same phonetic.