# Chinese Characters ![[ChineseCharacters.svg|225]] *"Chinese character" as written in traditional and [[Simplified Chinese Characters|simplified Chinese]]* Chinese is written using a [[Writing System#Logographic system|logographic writing system]] and the graphemes of the system are known as **Chinese characters**. As a logographic system, each character in written Chinese roughly *corresponds to a [[morpheme]]* and there exists more than a hundred thousand characters, although only two to three thousand characters are in common vocabulary. Chinese characters are fundamentally composed of **strokes** which are combined into **components**. Components can then be combined in several arrangements to form characters. Chinese characters can also be characterised by the functions, such as whether they are semantic or phonetic, or origins of the component or components that form them. The prevailing major Chinese script is known as *regular script*, which consists of two character sets, traditional and [[Simplified Chinese Characters|simplified]] characters. Traditional regular script was also adapted into the Japanese [[kana]] and kanji, although kanji underwent its own simplification reform. ## Structure ### Stroke ![[ChineseCharactersStrokes.svg]] *冰, 与, 九, and 飞 showing all basic strokes; 与 and 九 show the two forms of bend and curve* A **stroke** is the smallest possible unit of a Chinese character, written using a single movement of a writing instrument without interruption. In regular script, strokes are strictly discretised and regular, appearing roughly the same in all forms. Strokes are primarily characterised as **basic** or **compound** strokes. #### Basic stroke A **basic stroke** is a stroke written using a single movement and without a sharp change in direction. Basic strokes are further categorised into *simple* and *combining strokes*. Combining strokes can never independently exist and must be combined with at least one other stroke to form a compound stroke. | English | Chinese | Stroke | Description | | :-------------------: | :-----: | :--------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------: | | **Simple strokes** | | | | | Dot | diǎn, 点 | ![[ChineseCharactersDot.svg\|20]] | A very small line | | Horizontal | héng, 横 | ![[ChineseCharactersHorizontal.svg\|25]] | Written rightward | | Vertical | shù, 竖 | ![[ChineseCharactersVertical.svg\|25]] | Written downward | | Rise | tí, 提 | ![[ChineseCharactersRise.svg\|25]] | Short line up and to the right | | Press | nà, 捺 | ![[ChineseCharactersPress.svg\|25]] | Down and to the right while flattening | | Throw | piě, 撇 | ![[ChineseCharactersThrow.svg\|25]] | Down and to the left | | **Combining strokes** | | | | | Bend | zhé, 折 | ![[ChineseCharactersBend.svg\|25]] | A roughly 90° turn down or right | | Hook | gōu, 钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHook.svg\|35]] | A short flick left or up | | Curve | wān, 弯 | ![[ChineseCharactersCurve.svg\|35]] | Concave left or curved 90° turn right | | Slant | xié, 斜 | ![[ChineseCharactersSlant.svg\|25]] | Concave right curve | #### Compound stroke A **compound stroke** is a stroke consisting of at least two basic strokes combined and written together in a single movement without interruption. They are categorised by their first component stroke and named and abbreviated based on the sequence of component strokes. The strokes encoded by Unicode in the CJK Strokes block contain the simple basic strokes as well as a set of the most commonly named compound strokes. > [!NOTE]- Unicode compound strokes > | Abbreviation | Chinese | Stroke | > |:--------------:|:--------------------------------:|:----------------------------------:| > | **Horizontal** | | | > | HG | héng gōu, 横钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHG.svg\|25]] | > | HP | héng piě, 横撇 | ![[ChineseCharactersHP.svg\|25]] | > | HZ | héng zhé, 横折 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZ.svg\|25]] | > | HZG | héng zhé gōu, 横折钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZG.svg\|25]] | > | HZT | héng zhé tí, 横折提 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZT.svg\|25]] | > | HZZ | héng zhé zhé, 横折折 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZZ.svg\|25]] | > | HZW | héng zhé wān, 横折弯 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZW.svg\|25]] | > | HZWG | héng zhé wān gōu, 横折弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZWG.svg\|25]] | > | HXG | héng xié gōu, 横斜钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHXG.svg\|25]] | > | HXWG | héng xié wān gōu, 横斜弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHXWG.svg\|25]] | > | HZZZ | héng zhé zhé zhé, 横折折折 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZZZ.svg\|25]] | > | HZZP | héng zhé zhé piě, 横折折撇 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZZP.svg\|25]] | > | HPWG | héng piě wān gōu, 横撇弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHPWG.svg\|25]] | > | HZZZG | héng zhé zhé zhé gōu, 横折折折钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersHZZZG.svg\|25]] | > | **Vertical** | | | > | SG | shù gōu, 竖钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersSG.svg\|25]] | > | ST | shù tí, 竖提 | ![[ChineseCharactersST.svg\|25]] | > | SZ | shù zhé, 竖折 | ![[ChineseCharactersSZ.svg\|25]] | > | SW | shù wān, 竖弯 | ![[ChineseCharactersSW.svg\|25]] | > | SWZ | shù wān zuǒ, 竖弯左 | ![[ChineseCharactersSWZ.svg\|25]] | > | SWG | shù wān gōu, 竖弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersSWG.svg\|25]] | > | SZZ | shù zhé zhé, 竖折折 | ![[ChineseCharactersSZZ.svg\|25]] | > | SZP | shù zhé piě, 竖折撇 | ![[ChineseCharactersSZP.svg\|25]] | > | SZWG | shù zhé wān gōu, 竖折弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersSZWG.svg\|25]] | > | SP | shù piě, 竖撇 | ![[ChineseCharactersSP.svg\|25]] | > | **Rise** | | | > | TN | tí nà, 竖捺 | ![[ChineseCharactersTN.svg\|25]] | > | **Throw** | | | > | PG | piě gōu, 撇钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersPG.svg\|25]] | > | PZ | piě zhé, 撇折 | ![[ChineseCharactersPZ.svg\|25]] | > | PD | piě diǎn, 撇点 | ![[ChineseCharactersPD.svg\|25]] | > | **Curve** | | | > | WG | wān gōu, 弯钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersWG.svg\|25]] | > | **Slant** | | | > | XG | xié gōu, 斜钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersXG.svg\|25]] | > | BXG | biǎn xié gōu, 扁斜钩 | ![[ChineseCharactersBXG.svg\|25]] | ### Component ![[ChineseCharactersComponents.svg|150]] *想, meaning "think", with its constituent primitive components colour-coded* A **component** of a Chinese character is roughly a combination of strokes which are *not separated by a significant space*. The primary method of decomposing a character into components is **hierarchical division**. This allows for characters and components to be categorised based on how their constituent components are combined structurally. Components which cannot be further decomposed into smaller components are known as **primitive** or **final-level components**. There are also two similar terms to components in Chinese characters, **pianpang** or 偏旁, and **radicals**. > **Pianpang** or 偏旁 refers to the two largest components of a Chinese character; the left and right, top and bottom, or inner and outer components, usually for assigning either a semantic or phonetic purpose to the components. > A **radical** or **indexing component** of a Chinese character is a component of the character which is prominent, usually structurally and semantically, and is commonly used to index and sort them. #### Hierarchical division ![[ChineseCharactersHierarchicalDivision.svg|600]] **Hierarchical division** is the most common method used to decompose Chinese characters into its components. It consists dividing out components from the character in layers until the remaining components are primitive. Hierarchical division divides Chinese characters along *separation gaps* and generally obeys the following rules: - If there are *several* separation gaps, - if they are of different lengths, divide along the *longest gap first*. - if they are all parallel and of equal length, divide *along all gaps at once*. - Components of only *two strokes* are *not* divided. - *Intersecting* strokes or components are *not* divided and are preserved as primitive components. The hierarchical analysis of a Chinese character can be written using nested parenthesis and character structure description symbols. > 想(相(木+目)+心) #### Component structure The **component structure** of a Chinese character is the composition and arrangement of the first level components of the character. They are categorised into several types, each with its own symbol. | Structure | Symbol | Example | | :--------------------------: | :-------------------------------------------: | :-----: | | Left and right | ⿰ | 体 | | Left, center, and right | ⿲ | 班 | | Top and bottom | ⿱ | 思 | | Top, middle, and bottom | ⿳ | 鼻 | | Surrounded | ⿴ | 國 | | Surrounded from above | ⿵ | 同 | | Surrounded from below | ⿶ | 凶 | | Surrounded from left | ⿷ | 區 | | Surrounded from top left | ⿸ | 廣 | | Surrounded from top right | ⿹ | 氧 | | Surrounded from bottom left | ⿺ | 這 | | Surrounded from bottom right | <div style="display: inline-block; transform: rotate(270deg); margin-left: 3px">⿺</div> | 头 | | Overlaid | ⿻ | 巫 | ## Types Chinese characters can be categorised by the function or origin of its constituent components. The components of a Chinese character can either have a *semantic or a phonetic* purpose and may have originated to represent objects and concepts but later borrowed for phonetic use. Chinese characters are largely divided into pictographs, ideographs, compound ideographs, phono-semantic compounds, and loangraphs. Most modern Chinese characters are *phono-semantic*. ### Semantographs **Semantographs** are characters whose constituent components only represent the meaning of the character. This is in contrast to characters which contain phonetic components, as in phono-semantic compounds, or where borrowed due to their similar pronunciations, as in loanwords. #### Pictograph ![[ChineseCharactersPictograph.svg|400]] *Evolution of the pictographic character 馬, meaning "horse"* A **pictograph** is a character which originated as a *representation of a physical object* and typically preserves this meaning, although its use may be extended into being a metaphor or synecdoche. #### Ideograph ![[ChineseCharactersIdeograph.svg|400]] *Evolution of the ideographic character 中, meaning "middle", which likely derived from the drum in the middle of an ancient flagpole representing the concept of "middle"* An **ideograph** or **simple ideograph** is a character which is a *representation of an abstract concept* which has no physical form. #### Compound ideograph ![[ChineseCharactersCompoundIdeograph.svg|550]] *Evolution of the compound ideograph 解, meaning "to loosen" or "to separate", derived from combining characters to convey separating a horn 角 from a cow 牛 using a knife 刀* A **compound ideograph** is a character formed from the combination of other characters, or components derived from characters, to represent a new meaning derived from *combining the meanings* of the individual characters. ### Phono-semantic compound ![[ChineseCharactersPhono-semanticCompound.svg|450]] *The characters 彈 and 戰 are formed from the phonetic component 單, and thus are pronounced similar to it, and the semantic components 弓 and 戈, to which they have related meanings * A **phono-semantic compound** is a character formed from the *combination of a phonetic and a semantic component*, each of which may also be characters themselves, which suggest the pronunciation and meaning of the formed character, respectively. Phono-semantic compounds avoid ambiguity in writing when phonetic loans are used for a new character. The pronunciation of the phono-semantic character is typically an approximation of the pronunciation of the phonetic component, and may only preserve the beginning or final sound of the syllable. ### Loangraph ![[ChineseCharactersLoangraph.svg|550]] *Evolution of the characters 來 and 麥; 來 originally meant "wheat" but was later borrowed to primarily mean "to come", 麥 was then introduced to mean "wheat"* A **loangraph** is a character which was adapted to write words which had *no existing character but has a similar pronunciation* to the character being loaned. This occurred throughout Chinese history and has lead to many modern characters completely detached from their origins, with a new character introduced to replace the loaned character in its original meaning.