Shield

It means shield, then protection or backing by extension.

On its own, Chinese 盾 names a shield; 盾牌 makes the physical reading explicit, while 后盾 means support behind a person or cause. Japanese reads 盾 as たて (ta-te), meaning shield; in 後ろ盾, it can mean a backer. The same defensive idea moves from an object to support for someone.

Early forms are pictographic: oracle-bone forms show a shield-like object, followed by bronze and later script forms. Oracle bones are animal bones or turtle shells inscribed for divination. A preserved shield from the late Western Zhou came from a tomb of the ancient Guo state. The precise first appearance of shields is not settled, and Shang-period evidence is possible.

Why does 盾 mean contradiction in 矛盾?

Because 矛盾 pairs a spear with a shield.

In the Chinese political-philosophy book Han Feizi, from the Warring States period, a seller boasts that his shield stops anything and his spear pierces everything. Asked to test them against each other, he has no answer. The story is recorded as the source of 矛盾.

The pairing became a word for contradiction, conflict, or inconsistency. 自相矛盾 means contradicting yourself; Japanese uses the same compound 矛盾 for contradiction. The idiom carries the contradiction; lone 盾 still means shield.

How do I type 盾?

Type the reading for the language you are writing.

For Chinese Pinyin, type dun and select 盾. Several characters share that pronunciation, so starting with 盾牌 or 后盾 narrows the candidates.

Japanese input uses tate for standalone 盾 and jun inside 矛盾. In the Chinese Wubi input method, a keyboard system based on character strokes, enter rfhd.