占

佔
zhàn
#736 most
frequent character
variant of 占[zhan4]

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

占 zhān pictures cracks 卜 and a drilled hole 口 in a turtle shell, the marks used in divination. It first meant reading those cracks. Read zhàn, 'to occupy' was borrowed for its sound, with no link to the shape, and 'to consist of' grew from that.

Drawn as: cracks in a shell; a drilled hole

占 as a component in other characters

meaning1 character
乩
sound19 characters
点战站店贴钻粘沾帖毡黏玷鲇砧苫坫
picture3 characters
拈觇呫

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Same Characters, Different Readings

占zhān
to observe, to divine
占zhàn
to take possession of, to occupy

Homophones

HSK 3
站zhàn
station, to stand, to halt, to stop
战zhàn
to fight, fight, war, battle
占zhàn
to take possession of, to occupy

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