無断
むだん · mudan · JLPT N1 · noun
permission
🚫✍️ 無 = without, 断 = cut off or refuse: a cut-off permission, done without asking
無 means 'without' and 断 means 'decision, cutting off'. Together: acting with no permission granted, or without giving notice first.
断 — thread 㡭 (silk bundle) + axe 斤
Originally written with 㡭 (entangled silk threads) on the left and 斤 (axe) on the right, depicting an axe cutting through bundled threads. From this concrete image of severing came the meanings 'to cut off,' 'to break,' and by extension 'to decide' or 'judge'—as in resolving a matter decisively.