Meaning & readings
severance, decline, refuse, apologize, warn, dismiss, prohibit, decision, judgement, cutting
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of cutting with decision-making. The left side shows an axe or blade radical, which originally depicted a sharp tool used for cutting. The right side contains elements suggesting finality or completion. When you cut something with an axe, you sever it completely and make it final — there's no going back. This visual concept of decisive severance naturally extended to mean refusing something, making a judgment, or declining a request. The character essentially pictures the action of cutting away, which became a metaphor for all forms of decisive action and refusal.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (断).
Common words
- 横断 おうだん crossing (a road, river, etc.); cutting through (e.g. of a river through a town)
- 決断 けつだん decision; determination
- 遮断 しゃだん isolation; cut off
- 縦断 じゅうだん running through (north-south); cutting across
- 診断 しんだん diagnosis; medical examination
- 寸断 すんだん cutting to pieces; tearing to pieces
- 切断 せつだん cutting; severance
- 断る ことわる to refuse; to reject
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 69
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #338 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+065AD