寸

• Concrete: A unit of length (//cun//).
• Quantitative: Small, tiny, or short.
• Qualitative/Emotional: Humility, intimacy, or concentrated emotion (e.g., //cunxin//, "humble heart").
• Temporal: Brevity or a fleeting moment.

• Measure word for length.
• Modifier/Adjective describing smallness or shortness.
• Conceptual prefix in compounds to emphasize the absolute minimum of a thing (e.g., //cunbu//, "a single step"), frequently used in negative constructions to indicate total restriction or immobility.

Contrast with 微 (//wei//): while both denote smallness, 微 typically refers to an abstract quality of being minute or invisible, whereas 寸 retains a sense of tangible, measurable, or human-scaled smallness.

Semantic variant: U+540B.

Rooted in the measurement of the hand/wrist; early manuscripts may show graphical variations emphasizing the hand component.

When the text uses 寸 rather than a generic term for "small," consider whether the author is evoking the physical scale of the human body or the act of precise measurement.