羊? + 大 = 美
How to understand the origin of 美： Continue reading “美 beautiful”
Category: Compound ideographs
刍 a hand holding a bunch of hay
刍, a compound ideograph of a hand holding a bunch of hay/grass, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Characters formed by the phonetic component 刍 have the same or similar pronunciation as 刍.
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”
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”
Component silk 丝 糹纟
丝, a compound ideographic character of silk, serves as semantic we well as phonetic component to form characters. Characters formed by the semantic component silk 丝 express things related to silk, rope, cotton, textile, color, etc such as 缝纫线绳纽级纺织纤维纱绿绸缎. Continue reading “Component silk 丝 糹纟”