entries → 但
TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 (est.) · 字
但 character · TOCFL 1 (est.)
但 ＝ 亻 ＋ 旦
ㄉㄢˋ · dàn
conj — but; adv — only

字源 FORM — what the parts do

亻義a person
旦聲dàn — gives the sound exactlythe sun clearing the horizon — daybreak
A person (亻) stripped to the waist — the original word is bared skin, the job 袒 does today; 旦 daybreak sounds it exactly. The graph was borrowed for the stripped-down words: only (但願) and but (但是) — everything peeled away except one thing.

故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by

天一亮（旦），他（亻）脫了上衣下田——光著膀子幹活。
Daybreak (旦); he (亻) pulls off his shirt and bends to the field, bare-backed.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)袒露（本義，後寫作袒）— bared, stripped — the job 袒 now does
→只、僅（但願）— only
⇒但是、但— but, however常用
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
旦dànthe donor — daybreak, exact袒tǎntook over the bare-skin job, dressed in 衤