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Chinese Character - word-formation method |
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| It is said that the following Six Categories in the formation of Chinese characters has been passed on from Han Dynasty. |
| 1.Pictograph |
| Pictograph is to depict shape or characteristic of an object. Though originated from the earliest time, pictograph has the least quantity. Because it’s impossible to create a pictographic character for every object of the universe, since there are numerous. What’s more, some objects are too abstract to be depicted by pictures, e.g., Sun （日）, Moon （月）, Wood（木）, Water (水)，etc. |
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| 2.Symbols |
| It is one of the six categories of Chinese characters, showing that a Chinese character is composed of certain symbols. It cannot be used universally and it’s difficult to distinguish when points and crosswise as symbols are confused with other stroke, e.g. “一”(one) “二”(two) “三”(three) “上(up)” “下(down)” “刃(blade)”, etc. |
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| 3.Meaning-combined pictograph |
| A Chinese character consists of the other two or more characters, which are combined together by meaning. Meaning-combined pictograph still cannot meet the demand of expression because some meaning cannot be expressed without drawing three or four pictures. If it needs to draw several pictures to form a word, then it doesn’t look like a word, rather, it looks like a picture. E.g. “兵(soldier) ”, “北(north)”, “从(from)”, etc. |
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| 4.Pictophonetic method |
Ancestors of Chinese were very smart. They found that words could record sound because words are to record talks that are related to sound. Thus they invented pictophonetic method. As one of the six categories of Chinese characters, it consists of two elements, one indicating meaning and the other sound.
E.g.  江(river) 村(village)问(ask)闻(hear)箕(basket)宇(universe) |
| Besides the four methods mentioned above, there are two other methods in the Six Categories, namely, phonetic loan method and synonymous method, both of which cannot create new words. Therefore, a Chinese character mainly consists of four creation methods: Pictograph, Symbols, Combined meaning and Pictophonetic method. |
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2002-2009：