Phono-semantic compound:
木 (나무 목) — semantic component, representing wood (material for a table or desk)
安 (편안 안) — phonetic component, giving the sound and extended meaning of stability/arrangement
Originally denoted a wooden table or desk. By extension, came to mean plans, proposals, or schemes (as things written or placed on a desk). Later, also used for cases/incidents in administrative or legal contexts.

Common in administrative, legal, and bureaucratic vocabulary.
In modern Chinese and Korean, 案 refers both to concrete objects (desk, table) and abstract cases/plans.
案内 (안내) — guidance, information
方案 (방안) — plan, scheme
案件 (안건) — agenda item, proposal; case (legal/business)
案例 (안례) — example case
案發 (안발) — occurrence of an incident
立案 (입안) — to draft, to make a proposal

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

fruit, result, outcome, decisive, resolute

branch, twig, offshoot, to divide, to branch out

rack, stand, prop, frame, framework

someone, a certain person, anonymous reference

pillar, post, column, to support, to hold up

to investigate, to examine, to check, to look into

root, foundation, basis, origin, cause, to take root

form, standard, rule, style, pattern

table, desk, plan, proposal, to think, to consider

branch, twig, item

to abandon, to discard, to give up, to throw away

board game, chess, Go

ridgepole, the main beam of a house

forest, woods, grove, dense, thick

to plant, to set up, to grow

sweetgum tree (Liquidambar formosana), maple tree

work, occupation, profession, task, business, enterprise, learning, studies, karma (in Buddhist context)

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

案

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 案

Neighboring characters in the dictionary