There are multiple interpretations as to the origin of 且. One of them is that 且 is a pictographic character of a stone altar or memorial tablet. 且 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “且 a stone altar”
Author: Decode Mandarin Chinese
平 airflow passes and disperses
In bronze inscriptions, it 平 is composed of 于 (airflow passing obstacles) and 八 (moving in separate directions). That’s to say, the airflow passes and disperses. Seal script suggests a comfortable（兮）and calm（一）tone. Regular script resembles an object with two equal halves. 平 serves as semantic component to form characters. Continue reading “平 airflow passes and disperses”
爫 hand XI
爫 is derived from hand too. Characters formed by the component 爫 have to do with hands, actions of hands, etc, such as 采，觅，受，etc. Continue reading “爫 hand XI”
又 hand IV
又, a variant of 手, serves as a semantic component to form characters. Characters formed by the semantic component 又 have to do with hand-related actions or hand-related extended meanings. Continue reading “又 hand IV”
册 a book of bamboo slips
册, a pictographic character resembling vertical slips of bamboo strung together by two strings, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “册 a book of bamboo slips”