(shān) — (bound form) shirt; unlined upper garment

Definition

衫 is a bound morpheme meaning 'shirt' or 'unlined upper garment', always paired with a preceding character (e.g. 衬衫, 汗衫, 棉毛衫). It never stands alone.

bound form
shirtunlined upper garment

Examples

  • Wǒ zuó tiān mǎi le yí jiàn xīn chèn shān.
    I bought a new shirt yesterday.
  • Xià tiān hěn rè, hěn duō rén dōu chuān duǎn xiù hàn shān.
    Summer is hot, many people wear short-sleeved T-shirts.
  • Tā chuān zhuó yí jiàn bái sè mián máo shān.
    He is wearing a white cotton jersey.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
shānshān
Same sound today

衫 uses 衣 to show it is a garment and 彡 to give the sound.

Appears in

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