The shell bone script of character Periphery is
It is a field divided to many small pieces, the dots or short line in the center of each piece are farmers who are working in the field. The character also means Zhou Dynasty, which is famous for its good agricultural industry. People of Zhou Dynasty were good at agricultural industry.Saturday, September 30, 2023
Amazing Chinese Characters (621) Periphery - 周(週)
The bronze script of character Periphery is
The top is like character Use (Post 620), here means a field surrounded by fence. The bottom is character Mouth which means "Manage by speech". Agriculture is difficult to manage, which needs many cooperations, manages many people to work together, and fights against flood, or drought, etc. Therefore, the character also means "Thoughtful", "Comprehensive", etc.
The small seal script of character Periphery is
The top is character Use, also similar to bronze script of character Periphery. The bottom is character Mouth.
The clerical script of character Periphery is
Similar to small seal script, but the top left is sealed, the inside vertical line doesn't go through all the horizontal lines.
The Pinyin of the character is Zhou1.
The character has many meanings: periphery, circle, comprehensive, even Week, and Zhou Dynasty. But Periphery is its original meaning.
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Amazing Chinese Characters (620) Use - 用
The shell bone script of character Use is
It is a wood fence dividing the field, the left top is an open gate for people to get in and out of the fenced field. The fence was very useful, because it drew boundaries in the field. Each owner has his own field.
The bronze script of character Use is
Similar to shell bone script.The big seal script of character Use is
Similar to older scripts.The small seal script of character Use is
Similar to older scripts.The clerical script of character Use is
Similar to older scripts except the open gate disappeared because people at that time (Han Dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AC) paid much more attention to how quick they could write than the pictography of the characters. It is quicker to write one line without break.
The Pinyin of the character is Yong4.
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Amazing Chinese Characters (619) Darling - 卿
The bronze script of character Darling is
The big seal script of character Darling is
The small seal script of character Darling is
Let's compare the small seal script of character Darling with the small seal script of character Village
The clerical script of character Darling is
The middle part changed a lot, but still has some similarity to older scripts. the two sides are not similar to older scripts. The right part is simplified character Person, but the left part is not. However, if we remove the middle part, we get a character Enon and Mortise - 卯 (Post 469)The character Darling was used often by Empire to call his ministers as "爱卿“ - Lovely Darling. Also there is proverb "卿卿我我“, which means "lovey-dovey", or two lovers sit very close and say love words each other.
The Pinyin of the character Darling is Qing1.
People use "亲爱的“ as Darling more often, especially in oral Chinese. 卿 is used in written Chinese occasionally right now.
Monday, September 11, 2023
Amazing Chinese Characters (618) House - 房
The big seal script of character House is
The top is character Household (Post 271), actually it is a door. The bottom is character Square (Post 273). A house has door(s), and normally is square or rectangle in shape. The character also means the traditional big square courtyard.The small seal script of character House is
The clerical script of character House is
More straight lines.
The Pinyin of the character is Fang2.
Amazing Chinese Characters (617) City Subdivision - 坊
The big seal script of character City Subdivision is
The left is character Soil (Post 223), the right is character Square. A square area built by soil is the originalmeaning which could be houses along streets - neighborhood.
The small seal script of character City Subdivision is
Similar to big seal script.The clerical script of character City Subdivision is
The Pinyin of the character is Fang3.
The character also means handicraft workshop, memorial square, or some area with square shape (not need to be restrict square).
Amazon Chinese Characters (616) Release - 放
The bronze script of character Release is
The left is character Square (Post 273), the right is character Beating Ruler(攴), which means "hit or beat". The top 卜 is a ruler or similar tool, the bottom is a hand. A person who holds a beating ruler beats a person in the cangue during exile, which is the original meaning of the character. The character 攴 was abandoned long time (maybe more than 2000 years ago), but it is in many compound characters.The big seal script of character Release is
The left is character Square, the right is character Beating Ruler, similar to bronze script.
The small seal script of character Release is
Similar to older scripts, but more curves.
The clerical script of character Release is
The left is character Square and The right is Beating Ruler.The Pinyin of the character is Fang4.
The character has many meanings now: release, discharge, set, place, let go, etc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Amazing Chinese Characters (703) Axe - 斧
The shell bone script of character Axe is It looks like a modern axe. However, the above shell one script only listed in 《在线汉语字典》(The Online...
-
This post has been collected in book "Learn Chinese from Pictography" published on Amazon. You could find it by clicking the follo...
-
Chinese is difficult to learn, which is not true. Actually, Chinese characters are very pictography, or ideogram. Learning Chinese should be...
-
The big seal script of character Plow is The left is character Rake, the right is character Well, the dot in the middle of the square is an...