汗 from HSK Level 5 Vocabulary List

The Chinese character 汗 (hàn) for "sweat" is composed of two parts: the radical 氵(shuǐ) for "water" and the phonetic component 旱 (hàn) for "dry". The combination of these two components suggests the idea of "water evaporating from the body due to heat", which is the essence of sweating.The character 汗 has a long history in Chinese writing, dating back to the oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE). In its earliest form, the character was written as a simple pictograph of a person with sweat dripping from their forehead. Over time, the character evolved into its current form, which is a combination of the water radical and the phonetic component.The character 汗 is used in a variety of Chinese words and phrases related to sweating, such as 出汗 (chū hàn) for "to sweat", 汗水 (hàn shuǐ) for "sweat", and 汗流浃背 (hàn liú jiābèi) for "to sweat profusely". It is also used in some figurative expressions, such as 冷汗直冒 (lěng hàn zhí mǎo) for "to break out in a cold sweat" and 汗马功劳 (hàn mǎ gōng láo) for "to have made great contributions".In addition to its use in Chinese, the character 汗 has also been borrowed into other languages, such as Japanese (汗, ase) and Korean (땀, ttam).