早

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 早 (zǎo) for "early" is composed of two parts: 日 (rì) for "sun" and 旦 (dàn) for "morning". The character 早 originally meant "the sun rising in the morning", and it was later extended to mean "early" in general.The character 日 (rì) is a pictograph of the sun. It is one of the oldest Chinese characters, and it has been used for over 3,000 years. The character 旦 (dàn) is also a pictograph, and it depicts a person standing in front of the sun. It originally meant "morning", but it was later extended to mean "early" in general.The combination of 日 and 旦 in the character 早 creates a new meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual characters. The character 早 no longer means "the sun rising in the morning", but it has been extended to mean "early" in general. This is an example of how Chinese characters can be combined to create new words and meanings.