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The Chinese Character, an Interpretable Chinese Culture

伞 (umbrella)

It is a pictographic character shaped like an open umbrella, with the cover on top, frames in the middle and the handle (the vertical line) at the bottom. The traditional and simplified versions of the character are the same in both meaning and structure.

What’s New

    手 (hand)

    手 (hand)

    The character “shou”, (meaning “a hand”) is like a hand with fingers spreading in the oracle bone inscription. In the remote past, there was no difference between the character “shou” and the character “quan” (meaning “a fist”) in terms of meaning, both referring to the part below the wrist. That’s why these two characters were interchangeable in the small seal script. +more
    灾 (disaster)

    灾 (disaster)

    In the oracle bone inscriptions, the character is similar to a zigzag river surging forward. This is because human life can not be divorced from the river yet the excessive water would threaten human life and their belongings. Therefore, the original “zai” takes the shape of a simple flood disaster. +more

Other Topics

  • 州 (islet, state)

    州 (islet, state)
    “Zhou” (州) is an ideographic character. In the oracle bone inscriptions, it is written as...
  • 宫 (palace)

    宫 (palace)
    "Gong" (宫) is a pictographic character that looks like a house in the oracle bone inscriptions,...
  • 舌 (tongue)

    舌 (tongue)
    "She" (舌) is a pictographic character originally written like ... in the oracle bone...
  • 床 (bed)

    床 (bed)
    “Chuang” (“床”) is a pictographic character that is in the form of a vertical bed in the...
  • 窗 (window)

    窗 (window)
    “Chuang” (“窗”) was originally a pictographic character written like this ... in...
  • 衣 (clothing)

    衣 (clothing)
    “Yi” (衣, clothing) is a pictographic character. In the oracle bone inscriptions, the upper...
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Basics

  • The Origin and Evolution of Chinese Character
  • Word-formation of Chinese characters
  • Writing of Chinese Characters
  • Zidian (Dictionary)

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