{"id":7863,"date":"2012-08-23T02:06:28","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T06:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=7863"},"modified":"2017-06-09T06:11:47","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T10:11:47","slug":"chinese-characters-vol-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s in a Chinese Character? (Vol. 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been a while since we&#8217;ve taken a closer look at the complexity of Chinese characters. To get you up to speed, here are the links to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol1\/\">Volume 1 <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-2\/\">Volume 2<\/a>. So far, we&#8217;ve examined quite a few characters dealing with people. Today, we&#8217;ll focus more on nature, as we look at the history of a few important characters and how to use them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7872\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/shui\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7872\" aria-label=\"Shui 300x71\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7872\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7872\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"71\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shui-300x71.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7872\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">How water has evolved in Chinese.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>No life is possible here on our great planet without <strong>water<\/strong> (\u6c34 &#8211; shu\u01d0). As with many Chinese characters, this one has evolved greatly over time. The earliest form of a Chinese symbol for water was simply a pictograph representing a river. A few dots were added on either side of the river to represent drops of water. When used as a radical, it becomes\u6c35, which is meant to show <strong>three drops of water<\/strong> (\u4e09\u70b9\u6c34 &#8211; s\u0101n di\u01cen shu\u01d0). Many characters related to water use this radical, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>lake<\/strong> (\u6e56 &#8211; h\u00fa)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>sweat<\/strong> (\u6c57 &#8211; h\u00e0n)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>wave<\/strong> (\u6d6a &#8211; l\u00e0ng)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The whole character itself can also be combined with others to form many different words, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>fruit\u00a0(\u6c34\u679c &#8211; shu\u01d0 gu\u01d2)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>ink\u00a0(\u58a8\u6c34 &#8211; m\u00f2 shu\u01d0)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>waterproof\u00a0(\u4e0d\u900f\u6c34 &#8211; b\u00f9 t\u00f2u shu\u01d0)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_7871\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/shui2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7871\" aria-label=\"Shui2 300x145\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7871\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7871\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"145\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shui2-300x145.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7871\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The lifeblood of planet Earth!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In China, water is one of the five elements (along with fire, wood, earth, and gold), and it symbolizes the <strong>Yin<\/strong> (\u9634 &#8211; y\u012bn). Of course, you can&#8217;t have Yin without <strong>Yang<\/strong> (\u9633 &#8211; y\u00e1ng). This brings us to&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7865\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/fire\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7865\" aria-label=\"Fire 300x71\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7865\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7865\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"71\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/fire-300x71.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">When you play with fire&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Chinese character for <strong>fire<\/strong>\u00a0(\u706b &#8211; hu\u01d2), which has also evolved through the centuries from a pictograph to the modern, simplified character that it is today. Of course, <strong>water can extinguish fire<\/strong> (\u6c34\u53ef\u4ee5\u706d\u706b &#8211; shu\u01d0 k\u011b y\u01d0 mi\u00e8 hu\u01d2). This character\u00a0also carries a few other meanings related to the heat of fire, and we can see this in a few characters where the radical for fire (\u706c) is used, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>hot<\/strong> (\u70ed &#8211;\u00a0r\u00e8)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>boiled<\/strong> (\u716e &#8211;\u00a0zh\u01d4)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>burnt<\/strong> (\u7126 &#8211; ji\u0101o)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many other words include the character for fire, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>get angry<\/strong>\u00a0(\u53d1\u706b &#8211; f\u0101 hu\u01d2 &#8211; lit. &#8220;send fire&#8221;)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>fireworks<\/strong>\u00a0(\u7130\u706b &#8211; y\u00e0n hu\u01d2)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1><strong>volcano<\/strong>\u00a0(\u706b\u5c71 &#8211; hu\u01d2 sh\u0101n &#8211; lit. &#8220;fire mountain&#8221;)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Speaking of mountains, let&#8217;s have a look at&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7870\" style=\"width: 297px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/shan\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7870\" aria-label=\"Shan 287x300\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7870\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7870\"  alt=\"\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shan-287x300.gif\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7870\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">How the character for mountain came about.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The character for <strong>mountain<\/strong> (\u5c71 &#8211; sh\u0101n). Of course, by this point in the lesson it should come as no surprise that this too evolved from a pictograph. When used as a radical, it retains its appearance. Here are a few examples of the radical for mountain in action:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>lofty\u00a0(\u5d92 &#8211; c\u00e9ng)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>mountainous\u00a0(\u5d0e &#8211; q\u00ed)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>high\/steep\u00a0(\u5c79 &#8211; y\u00ec)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_7867\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/mountain\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7867\" aria-label=\"Mountain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7867\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7867\"  alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/mountain.jpeg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7867\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This one is easy to remember.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Of course, this character is also used to form a bunch of different words in Chinese. We&#8217;ve already seen how the character for mountain combined with fire makes the word &#8220;volcano.&#8221; So what happens when we combine it with the caracter for water??<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>landscape\u00a0(\u5c71\u6c34 &#8211; sh\u0101n shu\u01d0)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many other words can be formed using this character, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>hilltop\u00a0(\u5c71\u9876 &#8211; sh\u0101n d\u01d0ng)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>goat\u00a0(\u5c71\u7f8a &#8211; sh\u0101n y\u00e1ng &#8211; \u00a0lit. &#8220;mountain sheep&#8221;)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This character is also used in one of my favorite Chinglish idioms &#8211; &#8220;<strong>people mountain people sea<\/strong>&#8221; (\u4eba\u5c71\u4eba\u6d77 &#8211; r\u00e9n sh\u0101n r\u00e9n h\u01cei), which can be translated as &#8220;a vast crowd of people.&#8221; Also, when combined with the character for person, we get:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>deity\/god (\u4ed9 &#8211; xian)<\/h1>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_7868\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/pictograms_stroke\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7868\" aria-label=\"Pictograms Stroke 300x241\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7868\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7868\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/pictograms_stroke-300x241.gif\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7868\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">person + mountain = higher being<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Before we go, let&#8217;s take a look at one more example &#8211; the character for <strong>rain<\/strong>\u00a0(\u96e8 &#8211; y\u01d4). In my humble opinion, this is one of the easiest characters to remember, as the modern day version still resembles the ancient pictograph &#8211; drops of rain falling from the clouds. Almost every Chinese character having to do with rain or clouds uses this as a radical.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_7869\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/rain\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7869\" aria-label=\"Rain 300x71\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7869\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7869\"  alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"71\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/rain-300x71.png\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A history of the character for rain.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Let&#8217;s check out a few examples:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>thunder\u00a0(\u96f7 &#8211; l\u00e9i)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>sleet\u00a0(\u9719 &#8211; y\u012bng)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>mist\/haze\u00a0(\u972d &#8211; \u01cdi)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>When combined with other characters, more words related to rain can be formed:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h1>umbrella (\u96e8\u4f1e &#8211; y\u01d4 s\u01cen)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>take precautions\/plan ahead\u00a0(\u672a\u96e8\u7ef8\u7f2a &#8211; w\u00e8i y\u01d4 ch\u00f3u m\u00f3u)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h1>storm\u00a0(\u66b4\u98ce\u96e8 &#8211; b\u00e0o f\u0113ng y\u01d4)<\/h1>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_7866\" style=\"width: 236px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/funnyrain\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7866\" aria-label=\"Funnyrain\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7866\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7866\"  alt=\"\" width=\"226\" height=\"223\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/funnyrain.jpeg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7866\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A good way to remember it!<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>As you can see, Chinese characters are both complex and incredibly interesting. Learning their history, how to use radicals, and how to combine basic characters with others to form words and phrases is the best way to go about building your Chinese vocabulary. Think of it as a Lego set &#8211; you start with the small pieces, and eventually you build something great.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"84\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shui-350x84.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shui-350x84.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/08\/shui.jpeg 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>It&#8217;s been a while since we&#8217;ve taken a closer look at the complexity of Chinese characters. To get you up to speed, here are the links to Volume 1 and Volume 2. So far, we&#8217;ve examined quite a few characters dealing with people. Today, we&#8217;ll focus more on nature, as we look at the history&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-characters-vol-3\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":7872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[127487,127486,127488,127485,36390,127489],"class_list":["post-7863","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-chinese-character-for-fire","tag-chinese-character-for-mountain","tag-chinese-character-for-rain","tag-chinese-character-for-water","tag-chinese-characters","tag-127489"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7863"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13363,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7863\/revisions\/13363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}