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占

zhān / zhàn
verb #2,765

Meanings

  1. 1 to divine; to foretell
  2. 2 to prognosticate (by oracle, stars, or coins)

Examples

HSK 4
她喜欢占星看自己的运气。
Tā xǐhuan zhānxīng kàn zìjǐ de yùnqi.
She loves reading the stars to divine her own fortune.
HSK 7-9
古人用龟甲占未来。
Gǔrén yòng guījiǎ zhān wèilái.
The ancients used tortoise shells to divine the future.
HSK 7-9
很多年轻人用塔罗牌占卜。
Hěnduō niánqīngrén yòng tǎluópái zhānbǔ.
Many young people use tarot cards for divination.

Tips

history
The zhān reading is the older sense - it points straight back to the oracle-bone radical 卜 on top of the character. In Shang-dynasty divination, priests heated tortoise shells and read the crack patterns; 占 literally pictured that ritual. Today it lives on in 占卜, 占星, 占卦, and 占梦 (dream-reading).
memory
Mnemonic: zhān is the original ritual meaning (high register, fortune-telling); zhàn is the down-to-earth derived sense (grabbing seats, percentages, territory). The falling zhàn tone sounds heavier - like a body landing on a chair; the level zhān tone is lighter, like smoke rising from oracle bones.

Components

radical
卜 bǔ
divination; oracle
Top divination radical, a pictograph of cracks formed on a heated oracle bone - the lines a diviner read to predict outcomes. It supplies the original meaning: to divine, foretell (the zhān reading). From the idea of claiming the spot the oracle pointed to, the zhàn sense "to take a position, occupy" later generalised. Same radical also anchors 卦 and 卢.
semantic
口 kǒu
mouth
Bottom mouth radical, a small square. Together with the divination crack above, the whole forms a compound ideograph: a mouth speaking the verdict read from the oracle bone - pronouncing what was foretold. From announcing a verdict came the modern senses 'to occupy, take possession, hold' (占领, 占有, 占据).

Stroke Order

占 zhān