萏 (dàn): (classical) lotus flower, used…

Meanings

迨至菡萏成花。

Dài zhì hàn dàn chéng huā.

By the time the lotus blossoms had opened into flower.

history

萏 is never used alone in modern Chinese. It appears only in the bound literary word 菡萏 (hàndàn), a classical name for the lotus blossom.

register

Purely literary; seen in classical poetry and prose about lotus, not in everyday speech.

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant

艹 is the grass radical, a top-form of 草, placing this character in the plant family — appropriate for the lotus.

phonetic

臽 xiàn

pit; to fall into

臽 supplies the sound; the reading has drifted away from 臽 to 萏, a heavily worn phonetic link.

萏 dàn