Six categories of Chinese characters
The six categories of Chinese writing ( Chinese 六 書 / 六 书 , Pinyin liùshū ; Japanese : 漢字 の 六 書 kanji no rikusho ) are the traditional six main groups according to which Chinese characters are formed. They are divided into these six categories based on the manner in which they are classified according to the first dictionary of signs in Chinese writing, the Shuowen Jiezi ( Chinese 說文解字 / 说文解字 , Pinyin Shuōwén Jiězì , 2nd century) compiled by Xu Shen in which they are formed or derived. The number of characters that fall into each category has changed significantly throughout history. More details can be found below in a separate section.
Pictograms
A small number of the characters fall into the category of pictograms ( Chinese 象形 , Pinyin xiàngxíng - "symbols", Japanese 象形 shôkei ).
The images of objects (pictograms) try to represent reality with simple symbols. These pictograms were increasingly stylized and thereby lost their pictorial character, especially with the transition from oracle-bone script to seal script and later to chancellery script . Therefore, the original meanings are no longer readily apparent in modern spelling. The same is largely true of the simple and compound ideograms .
Examples
| Oracle Bone Script | Seal script | Chancellery | Rule script | Pinyin | meaning |
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rì | Sun |
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yuè | moon |
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shān | mountain |
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shuǐ | water |
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yǚ | rain |
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mù | Tree , wood |
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hé | Rice plant |
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rén | Person , human |
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nǚ | woman |
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mǔ | mother |
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mù | eye |
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niú | Beef , cow |
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yáng | Goat , sheep |
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mǎ | horse |
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niǎo | bird |
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guī | turtle |
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lóng | Chinese dragon |
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fèng | Chinese phoenix |
Simple ideograms
The category of simple ideograms ( Chinese 指 事 , Pinyin zhǐshì - “to point to facts”, Japanese 指 事 shiji ) also includes a small number of characters.
Symbolic representation of abstract thoughts by indicators stand for simple abstracts like 上 "above", 下 "below" or for numbers like z. B. 一 "one", 二 "two" and 三 "three".
Examples
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一 yī
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二 he
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三 sān
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上 shàng
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下 xià
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本 běn
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末 mò
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| one | two | three | above | below | root | Tops |
Compound ideograms
Composite ideograms ( Chinese 會意 , Pinyin huiyi - "United meanings," Jap. 会意 kai'i ) can also be found in small numbers in Chinese characters.
The symbolic compositions of abstract thoughts with the help of ideograms consist of two or more signs, each of which adds meaning. The word 休 “to rest”, for example, consists of the symbol for man 亻 ( radical 9 ) and the tree 木 ( radical 75 ) (“a person who leans against a tree”).
名 “Name” consists of crescent moon = evening 夕 ( radical 36 ) and mouth 口 ( radical 30 ) (“in order to be recognized in the dark, you call your name”).
Examples
| combination | meaning |
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木 × 2 = 林
lín
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two trees: "forest, forest, wood, -wäldchen, -hain" |
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木 × 3 = 森
sēn
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three trees: "abundance of trees" |
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亻 + 木 = 休
xiū
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Human leaning against a tree: "rest" |
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隹 + 木 = 集
jí
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Bird on a tree: "gather together"; simplified from 雧 (3 birds on a tree) |
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隹 × 2 + 又 = 雙
shuāng
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two birds above the right hand: "pair" |
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女 + 子 = 好
hǎo
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Woman and child: "good" |
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日 + 木 = 東
dōng
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Sun behind a tree: "East" |
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日 + 月 = 明
míng
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Sun and moon: "light" |
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木 × 2 + 火 = 焚
fén
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Fire under wood: "burn" |
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禾 + 火 = 秋
qiū
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Grain and Fire: "Autumn" |
Phonograms
The category of phonograms ( Chinese 形 聲 , Pinyin xíngshēng - "form and sound", Japanese 形 声 keisei ) makes up the largest part of the Chinese characters.
The meaning and sound combinations of the phonograms consist of the radical as a semantic (meaning carrier, significant ) and a phonetic component (sound carrier, phonetic ). Chinese has relatively few syllables. This means that many characters are pronounced the same way. This led to the creation of new signs with one part indicating the sound and the other part indicating the meaning. In the course of the more than 2000 years of development from Chinese through Old Chinese and Middle Chinese to modern standard Chinese , the pronunciation of the sound carriers has changed, in some cases very strongly, so that the modern pronunciation of the character exhibits greater deviations.
Examples
| Meaning giver | Sounder | character |
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氵 Water ( radical 85 )
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木 mù
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沐 mù , "wash your hair"
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氵 Water (radical 85)
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林 lín
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淋 lín , "pour out"
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艹 Grass ( radical 140 )
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采 cǎi
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菜 cài , "vegetables"
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Examples of the character 馬 mǎ "horse" Radikal 187 as sound generator:
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馬 mǎ
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嗎 ma
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駡 mà
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碼 mǎ
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| Radical 187 "horse" | Radical 30 ("mouth") + ma = question particle ma | twice radical 30 ("mouth") + ma: "rant" | Radical 112 ("stone") + ma: "number sign, digit" |
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螞 mǎ, mà
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瑪 mǎ
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獁 mǎ
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媽 mā
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| Radical 142 ("insect") + ma: in the following combinations: 螞蟻 mǎyǐ "ant" ， 螞蟥 mǎhuáng "leech" ， 螞蚱 màzhà "grasshopper" | Radical 96 ("jade") + ma: in the combination 瑪瑙 mǎnǎo "agate" | Radical 94 ("wild animal") + ma: in the combination 猛獁 měngmǎ "mammoth" | Radical 38 ("woman") + ma: "mother" |
Examples of the character 青 qīng "blue-green" radical 174 as a sound generator:
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青 qīng
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清 qīng
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蜻 qīng
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鯖 qīng
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情 qíng
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| Radical 174 "blue-green" | Radical 85 ("water") + qing: "clear, clean" | Radical 142 ("insect, worm") + qing: "dragonfly" | Radical 195 ("fish") + qing: "mackerel" | Radical 61 ("heart") + qing: "feeling, love" |
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晴 qíng
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請 qǐng
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精 jīng
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菁 jīng
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睛 jīng
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| Radical 72 ("sun") + qing: "clear, cheerful" | Radical 149 ("speak") + qing: "ask" | Radical 119 ("rice") + jing: "extract, essence, spirit" | Radikal 140 ("grass") + jing: "lushly thriving" | Radical 109 ("eye") + jing: "eyeball" |
Borrowings
Today's characters consist to a very small extent of borrowings ( Chinese 假借 , pinyin jiǎjiè , Japanese 仮 借 kashaku ).
With the characters for identical words, characters were used according to the rebus principle for words that were different in content, but sounded the same or very similar. The symbol 其 originally referred to a special type of shovel made from bamboo. Since the pronouns “he / she / it”, a question particle and a future tense particle were pronounced very similarly or identically, the sign was borrowed for these abstract words in the Shang and Zhou times. In most cases, the borrowing ( 假借 字 ) was secondarily distinguished from the original word by different radicals. In order to distinguish 其 as a grammatical word from 其 in the meaning of “shovel”, the radical 竹 “bamboo” is added to the latter , so one spells 箕 ( Chinese 簸箕 , pinyin bòjī ). In many cases, the pronunciation of the loan and the original word is not exactly the same, just similar.
| Pictogram or ideogram |
new meaning | original meaning | new sign for the original meaning |
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| 其 | qí "he, she it, this" | jī "shovel" | 箕 |
| 然 | rán "kind of like that there" | rán "burn" | 燃 |
| 北 | běi "north" | bèi "back" | 背 |
| 要 | yāo "demand, demand", yào "want, important" | yāo "waist, hip" | 腰 |
| 少 | shǎo "little" | shā "sand" | 沙 and 砂 |
| 永 | yǒng "always, forever" | yǒng "swim" | 泳 |
Synonyms
Synonyms ( Chinese 轉 注 , Pinyin zhuǎnzhù - “denote each other”, Japanese 転 注 tenchû ) also make up a small part in the present.
Zhuǎnzhù signs are Xíngshēng signs for synonyms that often have their origins in different dialects. They are constructed in such a way that the radical of the original character is retained and the pronunciation suggestive part is replaced by another suitable one. Examples:
顛 is a synonym for 頂 , 竅 one for 空 .
However, they do not have to be synonyms in the true sense of the word . 轉 注 字 can also be words from a completely different language or a dialect, which were constructed based on the model of an existing character.
Frequency of the categories
The sinologist John DeFrancis gives the following numbers for the frequency of the categories in a pre-classical collection of characters and three very extensive classical dictionaries over the millennia. It should be noted that the distinction between the six categories goes back to Shuowen in the 2nd century.
| category |
Oracle Bones ( Shang Dynasty ) |
Shuowen (2nd century) |
Zheng Qiao (12th century) |
Kangxi (18th century) |
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| Pictograms | 227 (23%) | 364 (4%) | 608 (3%) | ± 1,500 (3%) |
| Simple ideograms |
20 (2%) | 125 (1%) | 107 (1%) | |
| Composite ideograms |
396 (41%) | 1,167 (13%) | 740 (3%) | |
| Phonograms | 334 (34%) | 7,697 (82%) | 21,810 (93%) | 47,141 (97%) |
| total | 977 | 9,353 | 23,265 | 48,641 |
Accordingly, the percentage of phonograms has steadily increased at the expense of all other categories, so that the vast majority of the signs known today were formed from a meaning carrier plus a sound carrier.
However, these numbers don't say much about the frequency of each character in modern text. For example, include the 100 most common Chinese characters about 1 / 5 not to Category phonograms.
Modern categories
The Shuowen presents an old, traditional categorization with explanations as they were understood to be correct at the time. The six categories were the standard system for the categorization of Chinese characters until modern times. Generations of scholars modified it without questioning the basic concepts. Tang Lan (唐蘭) (1902–1979) was the first to create his own three categories (三 書 "Three principles of character formation"), namely xiàngxíng (象形 "Pictograms"), xiàngyì (象 意 " Representation of meaning") and xíngshēng (形 聲 "Phonograms") developed. This classification was later criticized by Chen Mengjia (陳夢 家, 1911–1966) and Qiu Xigui (裘錫圭, born 1935), who both developed their own three categories .
Individual evidence
- ^ John DeFrancis: The Chinese Language. Fact and Fantasy. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1984; P. 84.
- ↑ Most common Chinese characters - ordered by frequency