Zi:间
间(F間) [jiān] (中间) between/among; (房间) room; 时间 time [jiàn] 间隙 gap, 间隔 interval; 间谍 spy [gān] 半间不界 [jiǎn] [xián] cf. 間
3 monosyllabic entries in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):
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The simple-form character 间 jiān/jiàn ‘between/gap’ (7 strokes) is a simplification of the full-form character 間 (12 strokes), replacing the full-form component 門 mén ‘door’ (8 strokes) with its simple form 门 (3 strokes).
The full-form character 間 jiān/jiàn ‘between/gap’ is an old variant of 閒, replacing 月 yuè ‘moon’ with 日 rì ‘sun’; the form 間 (with 日) was created to specify certain meanings formerly wr. 閒 jiàn ‘interval’ (间隔 jiàngé), vs. other usages of 閒 jiàn/jiān ‘gap/between’ (中间 zhōngjiān), but later usage often conflates the two forms (HDZ).
Note: In the modern forms 间/間 the component is 日 rì ‘sun’, formerly wr. 月 yuè ‘moon’.
The Shuōwén Seal form of 閒 jiàn ‘gap/crack’ (between double doors) combines 門 (mén) ‘double doors’, and 月 (yuè) ‘crescent moon’; formerly wr. 𨳿, with 外, in which 夕 xī ‘sliver of crescent moon’ and 卜 bǔ ‘crack’.
Note: In the old SW form 𨳿 the component is 外 wài ‘outside’ instead of 月 ‘moon’, but in 外 the left-side component is 夕 xī ‘moon; evening’; cf. 𠄨(𢛢恆恒).
Note: The old meaning of 閒 jiàn ‘gap/crack’ relates to the ‘gap between two swinging door panels’, or the ‘gap between door and sill/wall’ (which allows the door to swing open, and through which a spy may peep); derived meanings: ‘crack in a wall; crack/gap/interval between; interval/between’; the 月 moon shining through a crack at night (in the 阴 ‘dark’, when people are most vulnerable to spies), became 日 a ray of sunshine streaming through a crack (阳 ‘light’).
Compare: 閒 jiàn ‘gap/crack’; 间/間 jiàn/jiān ‘gap/between’.
Compare: 闲/閑 xián ‘door lattice/screen; free/idle time’, among full-form characters sometimes wr. 閒.
►references: Henshall:92; Karlgren:AD375; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:7.4288.7; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:057.1.10; EDOC:0
►components: 日门
►Cantonese: gaan\
<cdl char='间' uni='95F4' points='4,4 124,128'>
<comp char='门' uni='95E8' points='0,0 128,128' />
<comp char='日' uni='65E5' points='38,40 88,102' />
</cdl>
<cdl char='门' uni='95E8' points='8,4 120,128'>
<stroke type='d' points='16,0 30,18' />
<stroke type='s' points='0,31 0,128' />
<stroke type='hzg' points='54,6 128,6 128,128 103,117' />
</cdl>
<cdl char='日' uni='65E5' points='24,8 104,120'>
<comp char='冂' uni='5182' variant='5' points='0,0 128,128' />
<comp char='二' uni='4E8C' variant='5' points='0,60 128,128' />
</cdl>
<cdl char='冂' uni='5182' variant='5' points='4,4 124,128'>
<stroke type='s' points='0,0 0,128' tail='long' />
<stroke type='hz' points='0,0 128,0 128,128' head='cut' tail='long' />
<!-- variant based on [U+EF7E](V=0) -->
</cdl>
<cdl char='二' uni='4E8C' variant='5' points='0,4 128,124' radical='K0'>
<stroke type='h' points='0,0 128,0' head='cut' tail='cut' />
<stroke type='h' points='0,128 128,128' head='cut' tail='cut' />
<!-- variant based on [U+EF79](V=0) -->
</cdl>
►stroke 间 (... strokes)
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Unicode: U+95F4
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The Wenlin Zidian (namespace Zi)
URL: https://wenlin.co/wow/Zi:%E9%97%B4
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