斷

Core sense is the creation of a gap where there was once continuity:

1. Physical Severance: To cut, break, or sever definitively, emphasizing complete separation or the breaking of a connection.

2. Cognitive/Legal Judgment: To decide, adjudicate, or determine; the metaphorical "cutting off" of alternative possibilities to reach a final verdict.

3. Cessation and Interruption: The stopping of a flow or process, such as interrupting speech, ending a relationship, or severing ties to mundane desires (particularly in Buddhist contexts).

• Transitive Verb: To sever [object]; to decide/judge [case/matter].
• Intransitive/Stative: To be broken, disconnected, or interrupted.
• Adverbial/Modifier: Denotes "absolutely," "definitively," or "unwaveringly."

• 斷 vs. 決 (jué): Both can mean "to decide," but 決 typically suggests a resolution or breakthrough, whereas 斷 emphasizes the act of exclusion and the elimination of alternatives.
• 斷 vs. 截 (jié): While both involve cutting, 截 focuses on the act of interception (cutting across a path), while 斷 focuses on the resulting break or gap.

Tang-period reading: *dhuɑ̌n. Fanqie readings include 都管, 徒管, and 丁貫.

The glyph’s composition reinforces the image of severing a cord or thread.