In bone and bronze inscriptions, 冬 resembles the two ends of a knotted rope, indicating that the winter is the end of a year. 冬 is cognate of 终. Later the meaning of 冬 is extended to “winter”. 冬 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “冬 the end of a year”
Category: Cognates
琴 a musical instrument
琴, cognate of 珡, a pictographic character of a musical instrument. 琴 is a general name for certain musical instruments. Continue reading “琴 a musical instrument”
Component corridor 良
良, corridor, porch, veranda, cognate of 廊, means: nice, good. 良 serves as phonetic component to form characters. Characters formed by the phonetic component corridor 良 share the consonant l and the compound vowel iang or ang. Continue reading “Component corridor 良”
Component 冒 a cloth hat
冒, a cloth hat, is a cognate of 帽. 冒 serves as phonetic component to form characters. Characters formed by the phonetic component 冒 have the same pronunciation mào. Continue reading “Component 冒 a cloth hat”
求 a fur coat
求, a cognate of 裘, is a pictographic character of a fur coat. 求 serves as phonetic component to form characters. Most of the characters formed by the phonetic component 求 have the same pronunciation qiú. Continue reading “求 a fur coat”