凡
fán · HSK 7
whatever
🤷 fán sounds like fan — whatever, just fan it away
The character 凡 means ordinary, common, or whatever. Its sound fán matches fan — a dismissive wave, as in fanning away anything unremarkable. The simple strokes suggest something plain and unadorned.
凡 — 几 enclosing a dot 丶
凡 originally depicted a flat tray or sail-like surface, shown as a frame with a small mark inside. From the idea of a plain, common container, it shifted to mean 'ordinary' or 'all in general'. The modern shape keeps the simple frame but no longer resembles a tray.