窜
cuàn · HSK 7
to flee
🏃 A rat (鼠) hides in a cave (穴) — it scuttles and flees
Top component 穴 means cave or hole. Bottom component 鼠 means rat. A rat darting out of its hole captures the core sense: to flee, to scuttle away. The extended meanings — exile and editing — both carry that sense of something being driven out or removed.
窜 — cave radical 穴 on top + 串 (string/skewer) below
Originally written 竄, showing a rat (鼠) hiding inside a cave (穴), giving the sense of fleeing into a hole or scurrying away. The simplified form replaces 鼠 with 串 as a phonetic-style component. Modern meanings extend to 'flee in panic,' 'scurry,' and 'tamper with' (as in 篡改/窜改 text).