Character: 干
Modern (Beijing) reading: gān
Preclassic Old Chinese: kān
Classic Old Chinese: kān
Western Han Chinese: kān
Eastern Han Chinese: kān
Early Postclassic Chinese: kān
Middle Postclassic Chinese: kān
Late Postclassic Chinese: kān
Middle Chinese: kân
English meaning : shield; to protect; place name
Shuowen gloss: 犯也.從一.從犯入.凡干之屬皆從干. [87]
Comments: The graph is also used for the homonymous *kān 'to strive for, seek', *kān 'bank (of a river)' and *kān 'flag pole' ( = 竿 q.v.). Schüssler (186) considers the latter word to be etymologically identical with 'shield' (as "a pole to which something can be attached") - but this is dubious, both for semantic (a shield is not a pole) and etymologic reasons.
Radical: 0
Four-angle index: 0
Karlgren code: 0139 a-b
Vietnamese reading: can
Jianchuan Bai: kã4
Dali Bai: ka5
Bijiang Bai: qõ4
Shijing occurrences: 7.1, 39.3_, 53.1, 53.2, 53.3
