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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

古人用龟甲占未来。
Gǔrén yòng guījiǎ zhān wèilái.
The ancients used tortoise shells to divine the future.
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.
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