What are the six ways to make Chinese characters?

There are six ways to create Chinese characters in China: pictographic, indicating, knowing, pictophonetic, transliteration and borrowing. Chinese characters are not entirely hieroglyphics, which can be said to be derived from hieroglyphics, but pictophonetic characters do occupy the mainstream, accounting for about 80% in Shuowen Jiezi and 90% in Kangxi Dictionary. Pictophonetic characters are half phonetic and half ideographic.

1, hieroglyphic

It belongs to the "single word-making method". Outline the shape characteristics of the object to be expressed with lines or strokes of words. For example, the shape of "moon" looks like a bright moon, and the shape of "turtle" looks like the side of a turtle.

2. Point out things

It belongs to the "single word-making method". The main difference from hieroglyphics is that signifiers contain more abstract things in painting. For example, the word "blade" is marked by adding a point to the sharpness of "knife"; The word "fierce" is to add a cross symbol to the trap.

3. Sound and form

It belongs to the "combined word-making method". Pictophonetic characters are composed of pictophonetic characters (also called "semantic symbols") and notes (also called "notes"). The shape side indicates the meaning or category of words, and the sound side indicates that the pronunciation of words is the same or similar. For example, the word "Sakura" has the word "wood" next to its shape, indicating that it is a kind of tree, and the word "baby" next to its voice indicates that its pronunciation is the same as that of the word "baby".

Step 4 know

It belongs to the "combined word-making method". A cognitive word is composed of two or more independent words, which are combined to express the meaning of the word with form or meaning. For example, the word "wine" is combined with liquid "water" to express its meaning.

5. Transfer bills

It belongs to "using Chinese characters". Different regions have different names for the same thing because of different pronunciations and geographical barriers. These two words are used to mean the same thing, and when they have the same meaning, they will have the same radicals or components.

For example, the original meaning of the words "Kao" and "Lao" are elders; "Top" and "top" both mean the top of the head; The original meaning of "Qiao" and "Kong" is Kong. These words have the same radical (or component) and analysis, and also have phonetic relations in pronunciation.

6, under the guise of

Borrowing is homophonic substitution. Some words in spoken English have no corresponding words. So I found a homophone with the same pronunciation to express his meaning. For example, "Zi" was originally an ideographic character of "nose", and was later borrowed as "Zi" of "Zi".