炭

tàn
#2,364 most
frequent character
wood charcoal, coal

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

炭 tàn shows 火 fire and takes sound from 屵 yǎn. It first meant what is left after wood burns. That grew to charcoal and then coal.

Drawn as: fire

炭 as a component in other characters

meaning2 characters
碳羰
sound1 character
碳

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Homophones

探tàn
to explore, to search out, to scout
叹tàn
to sigh, to exclaim

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