Category: chinese characters

書 is the character for “book”. It is made out of 10 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin書书ㄕㄨshū Definition Book; letter; document; to write Historical Origins The character 書 dates back from the Bronze Script. It is a phono-semantic compound, which means it is composed of both a semantic element and a phonetic element. In this case,… Continue reading 書 | Chinese Character for Book

富 is the character for “rich”. It is made out of 12 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin富富ㄈㄨˋfù Definition Wealth; rich; abundant; wealthy Historical Origins 富 is a phono-semantic compound. The 宀 radical, which looks like a roof, serves as the semantic component, symbolizing something related to a household or shelter. This gives a clue about the… Continue reading 富 | Chinese Character for Rich

希 is the character for "hope". It is made out of 9 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin希希ㄒㄧXī Definition To hope; to admire  Historical Origins The character 希 has ancient origins, dating back to the oracle bone script. It is a combination of the "cloth" radical 巾 and the phonetic component 爻 (pronounced xiào). Over time, its… Continue reading 希 | Chinese Character for Hope

國 is the character for “country”. It is made out of 11 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin國国ㄍㄨㄛˊGuó Definition Country; nation; state; national Historical Origins The original character for '國' (country) was '或', which was also the ancient character for '域' (territory). '或' is composed of two elements: '囗 (wéi)', representing a city, and '戈', symbolizing a… Continue reading 國 | Chinese Character for Country

天 is the character for “sky”. It is made out of 4 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin天天ㄊㄧㄢTiān Definition Sky; heaven; day Historical Origins The top line represents the horizontal plane above a person (大) with outstretched arms. The ancient character depicts a person with a large head, serving as a personification of the sky. The original… Continue reading 天 | Chinese Character for Sky

中 is the character for “middle”. It is made out of 4 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin中中ㄓㄨㄥzhōng Definition Middle; center; while (doing sth); during; within; among; in; China; Chinese Historical Origins The origins of this character are often interpreted as an arrow in the center of a target, which actually makes it very easy to memorize.… Continue reading 中 | Chinese Character for Middle

不 is the character for “no; not”. It is made out of 4 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin不不ㄅㄨˋbù Definition No; not (negative prefix) Historical Origins The character 不 originally depicted the calyx of a flower. Over time, it evolved into a phono-semantic compound when combined with the pictograph for mouth (口), forming 否 (OC *brɯʔ, *pɯʔ),… Continue reading 不 | Chinese Character for No; Not

小 is the character for “small” . It is made out of 3 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin小小ㄒㄧㄠˇXiǎo Definition Small; tiny; few; young Historical Origins The character 小 is an ideographic character originating from the oracle bone script, where it was represented by three small dots. Over time, as seen in bronze inscriptions, these dots evolved… Continue reading 小 | Chinese Character for Small

龜 is the character for “turtle”. It is made out of 16 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin龜龟ㄍㄨㄟguī Definition Turtle; tortoise Historical Origins 龜 is one of the oldest pictographic characters in the Chinese language. It is a direct drawing of a turtle, which can still be clearly seen in its modern form. Vocabulary with the Character… Continue reading 龜 | Chinese Character for Turtle

罐 is the character for “jar”. It is made out of 24 strokes. Chinese CharacterSimplified VersionBopomofoPinyin罐罐ㄍㄨㄢˋGuàn Definition Jar; can; pot Historical Origins 罐 is a relatively recent character. It is made out of the component 缶 meaning “pottery” and the phonetic component 雚 (ㄍㄨㄢˋ - guàn). Vocabulary with the Character 罐 ChineseBopomofoPinyinEnglish罐頭ㄍㄨㄢˋ ㄊㄡˊguàntóucanned food罐子ㄍㄨㄢˋ ㄗˇguànzijar水罐ㄕㄨㄟˇ… Continue reading 罐 | Chinese Character for Jar