八 is derived from the image of two hands holding something. It serves as a semantic component in some cases. Some characters formed by the semantic component 八 denote hand-related actions or hand-related extended meanings. Continue reading “八 hand VI”
Author: Decode Mandarin Chinese
扌hand II
扌is derived from 手 and serves as a semantic component to form characters. Characters formed by the semantic component 扌denote hand parts, hand-related or body-related actions, or hand-related extended meanings. 扌is super powerful as it can form 700 characters. Continue reading “扌hand II”
业 a board on the musical stand
业, a pictographic character of the horizontal board fixed on the music stand used in ancient times. Its original meaning was extended to “profession, career, business, etc”. Continue reading “业 a board on the musical stand”
Component two wings 非
非, originally two wings, can act as a phonetic component as well as a semantic component to form characters. Continue reading “Component two wings 非”
Component 垂
土 resembles dirt on the ground. 
（chuí）is a phonetic component and resembles flowers. Together, they symbolize stones and plants that were used in ancient times to delineate boundaries. The original meaning of 垂 was border area or frontier, a meaning that is now expressed by 陲. Continue reading “Component 垂”