乐, originally a pictographic character of a wooden musical instrument, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “乐 a wooden musical instrument”
Tag: phonetic
句 to bend
句 originally meant “bend” and has several different extended meanings. It has two pronunciations jù and gōu. Among all its meanings, the meaning of “sentence” is used most. 句 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “句 to bend”
莫 Sun sets in the grass
莫 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Nearly most of the characters formed by the phonetic component 莫 have the same consonant “m”and vowel “o” for the pronunciation. Continue reading “莫 Sun sets in the grass”
勿 a knife cutting off the useless things
勿 is compound ideograph, depicting a knife cutting off the useless things such as melon skin, vegetable roots, etc. 勿 serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “勿 a knife cutting off the useless things”
兹 two strands of twisted silk
In oracle bone script and seal script, 兹 depicts two strands of twisted silk. It is the cognate of 丝. In clerical script, 艹 is added to express the meaning that the grass grows like strands of silk. Continue reading “兹 two strands of twisted silk”