yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
碳

Carbon C · 6

tàn

solid non-metal · period 2, group 14 · p-block

Anatomy

石 radical 石 shí
stone → solid non-metal
+ 炭 phonetic =
碳 tàn

Ancient name. Known in China long before modern chemistry; the old character was kept. Known since ancient times

History of the character

Every form found in the sources, from the first missionary chemistry books of the 1850s to the current standards. Hover a dot for the source. Simplified 碳, traditional 碳.

1850187519001925195019752000antiquitytoday
炭精
1868 · 格物入門 · Géwù Rùmén (1868) — W. A. P. Martin (丁韙良), Tongwen College1870 · 化學初階 · Huàxué Chūjiē (1870) — John G. Kerr (嘉約翰) & Hé Liǎorán (何瞭然)
炭 tàn
1871 · 金石識別 · Jīnshí Shíbié (1871) — D. J. MacGowan (瑪高溫) & Huà Héngfāng (華蘅芳)1871 · 化學鑑原 · Huàxué Jiànyuán (1871) — Xú Shòu (徐壽) & John Fryer (傅蘭雅), Jiangnan Arsenal1905 · 化學新教科書 · Huàxué Xīn Jiàokēshū (1905) — Dù Yàquán (杜亞泉), Commercial Press
碳 tàn
1901 · 化學名目與命名法 · Chemical Terms and Nomenclature (1901) — Educational Association of China (益智書會) 炭 “charcoal” given the stone radical
  1. 1868 炭精 格物入門 Géwù Rùmén, W. A. P. Martin (丁韙良), Tongwen College
  2. 1870 炭精 化學初階 Huàxué Chūjiē, John G. Kerr (嘉約翰) & Hé Liǎorán (何瞭然)
  3. 1871 炭 金石識別 Jīnshí Shíbié, D. J. MacGowan (瑪高溫) & Huà Héngfāng (華蘅芳)
  4. 1871 炭 化學鑑原 Huàxué Jiànyuán, Xú Shòu (徐壽) & John Fryer (傅蘭雅), Jiangnan Arsenal
  5. 1901 碳 tàn 化學名目與命名法 Chemical Terms and Nomenclature, Educational Association of China (益智書會) 炭 “charcoal” given the stone radical
  6. 1905 炭 tàn 化學新教科書 Huàxué Xīn Jiàokēshū, Dù Yàquán (杜亞泉), Commercial Press

Homophones

Same syllable, different tone: 钽 tǎn Tantalum.

Elsewhere

Japanese 炭素 Korean 탄소 Vietnamese carbon

Western name from Latin via French charbone, “charcoal”. Compare all

Unicode

U+78B3 in CJK Unified Ideographs