但dàn

但

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Simplified · Today

简体

Simplified Chinese

Simplified Chinese (簡體). 但 (dàn, "but/however") remains unchanged from its traditional form, combining the person radical 亻 with 旦 — the ancient pictograph of a sun rising above the horizon, suggesting the original meaning of "a person at dawn." This pairing of human and celestial imagery gave 但 its role as a connector, bridging ideas with the sense of "nevertheless" or "yet."

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Shuowen

但, in oracle bone script, is formed by the human radical 亻 paired with the phonetic component 旦, which originally depicted the sun rising above the horizon (dawn). The phonetic value of 旦 was adopted to represent the sound, while the person radical suggested a human perspective. Consequently, the character acquired the sense of “but, yet” in later usage.

Pinyin

dàn· HSK 1

但dàn

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin