旦 (dàn)

(literary) dawn; daybreak; dan, female role in Chinese opera (traditio

Etymology

Depicts the sun (日) rising above the horizon (一) at dawn. In Oracle script the bottom component was the phonetic 丁, which was later reanalyzed as the earth or a horizon.

Shuowen Jiezi

《說文》:“旦,明也。从日見一上。一,地也。”

Components