rust-colored, red, red lead, pills, sincerity
丹 centers on a deep, earthy red color, like rust or red lead. The meanings of pills and sincerity are extensions: pills were often red in traditional medicine, and sincerity is associated with a pure, unadorned heart, like the color red.
丹 is a pictograph of a cinnabar mine or a container with red pigment inside. The dot represents the red substance, and the surrounding strokes form the container or mine shaft.
Picture a small container with a dot of red pigment inside. The dot is the red lead or rust-colored powder, and the container holds it. This red color was used in pills and symbolizes a sincere, unadorned heart.
For タン, imagine a tan-colored rust on a metal container: tan -> タン, and the rust is the red color inside 丹.
red earth (i.e. containing cinnabar or minium); vermilion
Tanba (former province located in parts of present-day Kyoto, Hyogo and Osaka prefectures)
Isetan (department store)
tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa); moutan
Christianity (in feudal Japan); Christian
Tango (former province located in the north of present-day Kyoto Prefecture)
painstaking; careful; meticulous; scrupulous; detailed; elaborate
point below the navel (a focus point for internal meditative techniques)
working earnestly; sincerity; diligence; effort; pains
Khitan people; Khitai; Kitan; Kidan
red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis); Japanese crane
Jintan (brand-name breath mint marketed as having various medicinal properties); refreshing candies resembling BBs or metallic dragees
Ryōtan (region in Kansai corresponding to the two historical provinces of Tanba and Tango)
large padded kimono
Tanzenburo (famous early Edo-period bathhouse)
red lips
painting red; vermillion lacquering
Tanshū (the two former provinces of Tanba and Tango)
sincerity; faithfulness
cinnabar; vermilion