Dash (Chinese characters)
Every Chinese character is made up of so-called strokes . Lines are those graphic elements that are always written in one go, i.e. without being separated.
There are only a limited number of such strokes. They can be divided into two groups: stems that do not involve a change of direction and complex strokes that are made up of two or more stems and / or have a change in direction. The following table shows the stems:
| Line | Chinese name | description | example |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
點 / 点 , diǎn - "point" | very short stroke; in many fonts and when written with a brush, teardrop-shaped; occurs in different orientations |
汉
|
 |
横 , héng - "horizontal" | Horizontal line drawn from left to right, sometimes slightly rising |
大
|
 |
豎 / 竖 , shù - "vertical" | vertical line drawn from top to bottom |
中
|
 |
撇 , piě | slightly curved line drawn down to the left |
不
|
 |
捺 , nà | slightly curved line drawn down to the right |
人
|
 |
提 , tí | Increasing line drawn to the top right |
孑
|
An important additional element is the hook ( 鈎 / 钩 , gōu ), which only occurs in connections at the end of lines; there is also a line element ( 弯 , wān ). Complex strokes essentially consist of these stems or variations of them. Complex strokes are identified by stringing together the components that make up the stroke. An important exception here is that an abrupt change of direction between two straight graduation marks is uniformly referred to as 折 , zhé - "bend". Other elements appear in the names of other complex strokes. The following table shows a selection of complex lines:
| Line | Chinese name | example |
|---|---|---|
 |
橫 折 鈎 / 横 折 钩 , héng-zhé-gōu |
门
|
乙 |
橫 折 彎鈎 / 横 折 弯钩 , héng-zhé-wān-gōu |
呓
|
亅 |
竪 鈎 / 竖 钩 , shù-gōu |
东
|
乚 |
竪 彎鈎 / 竖 弯钩 , shù-wān-gōu |
也
|
 |
斜 鈎 / 斜 钩 , xié-gōu |
民
|
The number of lines is not precisely defined. Some strokes come in variants, which in turn can be viewed as separate strokes.
In Unicode version 5.1 in the Unicode block CJK bars 36 bars are coded, gōu, wān and xié are not listed as single bars. The complex lines H + S + G and T + W mentioned in the eight principles are also missing there .
literature
- Chinese Characters Exercise Book for "Practical Chinese" . Commercial Publisher, Beijing 1997, ISBN 7-100-02084-0
Web links
- 39 strokes of the character description language of the Wenlin Institute ( memento from September 11, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) (English; PDF; 108 kB)