用, a pictographic character representing a big bell used in the past which functioned as a musical instrument. 用 mainly serves as a phonetic component to form characters, but it can also serve as a semantic component. Continue reading “用 a big bell”
Author: Decode Mandarin Chinese
Component 玄 silk tie or knot for dyed silk
玄, originally silk tie or knot for dyed silk, is pictographic character. 玄 serves as phonetic component to form characters. Characters formed by the phonetic component 玄 share compound vowels ian and uan. Continue reading “Component 玄 silk tie or knot for dyed silk”
巨 a man with a rule/square in hand
巨, a pictographic character of a man with a rule/square in hand, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “巨 a man with a rule/square in hand”
美轮美奂 or 美仑美奂
美轮美奂 [měi lún měi huàn] magnificent, sumptuous, originally used to describe constructions/buildings, is also used to describe the fine effect of sculpture or architecture. Attention: 美仑美奂 is wrong. Continue reading “美轮美奂 or 美仑美奂”
凡 a plate
凡, a pictographic character. There are several versions as to the original meaning of this character, among which is the version that 凡 originally reprensented a plate. 凡 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “凡 a plate”