Sunday, January 30, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (472) Deploy - 陈(陳)

 The bronze script of character Deploy is

Left is small hills, right part is character East (Post 77). The Dictionary of Pictography thinks that the right one should be character Vehicle (Post 5). The character means that deploying army to position before combat, which should have many vehicles. I think that the bronze script Deploy is 3000+ ago when the combat vehicle should not be popular because not afford to have so many vehicles.

What I think is that the right part character East means Morning here. Deploying army in the morning back against a cliff is the meaning of the character.

The big seal script of the character is
There are three parts. The left and middle combination is similar to the bronze script. The right part is a hand (bottom) holding a stick (top), which means To Hit, To Beat. The army is in position and ready to attack.

The small seal script of the character is
The left is small hills, and the right is character East.

The clerical script of the character is

The left is called Radical Er because it looks like an er, but it means the small hills, which is like hills too, but just two hills, not three as older scripts do have. The right part is character East.

The song typeface of the character is
Same as the clerical script.

The song typeface of the character is
The right one is simplified character East.

The Pinyin of the character is Chen2.

陈(陳)has been a popular family name for 3000+ years. Unless in proverb, or combination words, if you mention 陈(陳), people will think that you are talking the family name, not Deploy. Actor Jackie Chan's Chinese name is 陈龙 (simplified Chinese), or 陳龍 (traditional Chinese). 


Friday, January 28, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (471) Skin - 皮

 The bronze script of character Skin is

The top is a person with a big mouth, the bottom is a hand to skin the person alive, which is a punishment in the ancient time. The person is suffering and screaming.

The big seal script of the character is
Similar to bronze script, the lines are touched each other.

The small seal script of the character is
which changed very big. the left is the person's body, the right top is the mouth, the right bottom is the hand.

The clerical script of the character is
which is changed to no similarity to the older script. The only clear part is the bottom 又, which is hand. The rest we can guess are the body + mouth, but hard to tell which is which.

The song typeface of the character is
 
Same as clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Pi2.

皮 is used as a noun exclusively.  





Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (470) Omen - 兆

 The shell bone script of character Omen is

which is the cracks on shell or bones after being burnt.


Ancient Chinese wrote some scripts on the turtle shell, ox bone, put them on fire to burn. Based on the cracks, foresee or foretell the good or bad of an event in the near future. 

The big seal script of character Omen 
more like cracks.

The small seal script of the character is
Similar to big seal script.

The clerical script of the character is

The middle crack disappeared, the character is symmetrical.

The song typeface of the character is
Very similar to clerical script.

Its Pinyin is Zhao4.

兆 is also a number: Trillion, the biggest number unit in Chinese. Why is 兆 a huge number? I guess that it is from the super nature (cracks made by super nature power), so it must be a great number.










Sunday, January 16, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (469) Enon and Mortise - 卯

 The shell bone script of character Enon and Mortise is

Chinese used complicated Enon and Mortise in 3500+ years ago to build structures without nails.





In the script, the circles are holes, and the long strokes are wooden strips.

The bronze script of the character is

Similar to shell bone script.

The big seal script of the character is
Similar to older scripts. 

The small seal script of the character is 

Similar to the older scripts except the top bent lines.

The clerical script of the character is
Changed a lot, not symmetrical anymore. The left changed big, but we still can see some similarity.

The song typeface of the character is
Same as the clerical script.

The pinyin of the character is Mao3.

Note: The character also means "fourth earthly branch" in Chinese Terrestrial Branch, which is very complex. Just remember it is used as a sequence word sometimes.


Monday, January 10, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (468) Fear - 畏

 The shell bone script of character Fear is


The right top 田 is a ghost face mask. Let see the shell bone script character Ghost (Post 71). 

The top is a big 田, a skull mask. The bottom is a kneeling down person.

The bottom of character Fear is a standing person. The left is a scepter. A person wears a skull mask or ghost mask, holding a scepter to show a power of super nature, maybe ghost in sacrifice. The appearance is fearful. 

The bronze script of the character is
Similar to shell bone script.

The big seal script of the character is
Similar to big seal script.

The small seal script of the character is
The top is similar to older script. The bottom changes big: the left is scepter, the right is a person.

The clerical script of the character is
The top is similar to older scripts. The bottom has some similarity to small script, but changed big to fit the clerical script writing, especially the falling right stroke which is typical clerical stroke. 

The song typeface of the character is
Same as clerical script.

The Pinyin of the character is Wei4.







Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Amazing Chinese Characters (467) Body - 体(體)

 The bronze script of character Body is

The left is a form of body, the right is character Harvest and Abundance (Post 317), which means, the body is formed or produced by foods.

There is another character Body (Post 97)

The dot is an indicator, which is the most important point the character wants to say. Here is the belly. The above character originally means the belly of the body. But right now it means body. The difference of the two is very subtle. One is more emphasizing the trunk: the belly and the chest, another is more on the whole body including the legs, arms, head. 

The big seal script of the character is 

The left is character Bone (Post 458), the right is character Harvest and Abundance (Post 317). A body with bones is supported by abundance foods.

The small seal script of the character is

Similar to the big seal script.

The clerical script of the character is

Similar to older scripts.

The traditional song typeface of the character is

Same as clerical script.

The simplified song typeface of the character is

Which is from nowhere. The left is radical Person, the right is character Root (Post 78).  It has nothing to do with the older scripts, or the traditional song typeface. I can only guess that the character means "A person's root" = "A person's body", which changes to ideogram character, not pictographic character.

The Pinyin of the character is Ti3.

Because character 身,and character 体, both means Body with very subtle difference, so people use 身体 (combination of the two characters) as a word-form to mean Body. There are many this kind words formed by two characters with very similar meaning, to avoid any confusion. 

Amazing Chinese Characters (752) Borderland - 陲

The bronze script of character Borderland is The left is cliff, the right is character Hang Down (Post 410). The remote Borderland is area w...