易, originally a lizard, a cognate of 蜴, means: 1.easy 2.friendly 3.to change 4.to exchange. 易 serves as phonetic component. Characters formed by the component lizard 易 have three structures: semantic left-phonetic right, phonetic left-semantic right, and semi-enclosure Continue reading “Component lizard 易”
Component insect, worm, bug 虫
虫, insect, worm, bug, serves as semantic component/radical to form characters. Characters formed by the semantic component insect has three structures: semanic left – phonetic right, semi-enclosed, phonetic up-semantic down. Continue reading “Component insect, worm, bug 虫”
Component bird 鸟
bird 鸟 mainly serves as semantic component though it can serve as phonetic component too. Characters formed by the semantic component bird express things related to bird, such as names of different birds. Continue reading “Component bird 鸟”
Component fish 鱼
鱼, fish, serves as semantic or phonetic component to form characters. Because fish 鱼 is an important food source, there are a fair number of characters formed by the semantic component fish 鱼. Totally there are about 300 characters with the semantic component fish 鱼. Continue reading “Component fish 鱼”
Component tortoise 龟
龟 resembles a tortoise and means tortoise. The tortoise’s feet are omitted in the simplified form. 龟 serves as semantic component. There is only one character formed by the component tortoise 龟. Continue reading “Component tortoise 龟”