What 慚 means
It means shame or feeling ashamed. An early Chinese character dictionary, 說文解字, glosses it as 羞愧 (“shame”). Its analysis uses 心 (“heart or mind”) for meaning and 斬 to signal the sound.
Is 慚 the same as 惭?
Yes: they are traditional and simplified forms. Traditional Chinese writes 慚; simplified Chinese writes 惭. They have the same shame-related meaning.
Dictionaries also record 慙 as a related alternate form. Its presence does not automatically mean 慚 is a font error.
Why is 慚 used with 愧?
They pair to express shame. 慚愧 is an established word for feeling ashamed or embarrassed; 大言不慚 describes someone boasting shamelessly.
In Buddhist ethical writing, the two can be distinguished: 慚 refers to inward shame or self-respect that restrains wrongdoing, while 愧 points to outward or other-related concern. That is a specialized reading.
On its own, 慚 feels formal or literary; it is established in traditional compounds, while simplified Chinese writes 惭.
In simplified Chinese text, 惭 is the expected form; 慚 may look like the wrong script form.
Who writes 慚
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Don't confuse it with
2
Related characters
2
Combination ideas
3Questions people ask
1Can fonts change the look of 慚?
Yes. CJK fonts can vary the stroke design without changing which character is shown.
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How to type or find 慚
- Search it as
- 慚 · 惭 · 慙 · 慚愧 · 大言不慚 · 自慚形穢 · cán · can2
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
慚\615ACodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.