Lesson 3

Chinese Studies Classroom: One interpretation of the character “言” is that, in ancient scripts, it looks like a horizontal line added to “舌” (tongue), representing words spoken through the tongue, which means “language.” Characters that include the “言” radical are often related to speech or language, such as 說 (shuō-speak), 話 (huà-word), 語 (yǔ-language), 談 (tán-discuss), etc.

Chinese Studies Classroom: The original meaning of the character “五” is the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—that make up the universe. In oracle bone script, the character “五” is depicted as a cross intersecting two horizontal lines, symbolizing the convergence of heaven, earth, and all things.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient characters, the left side of “飯” is “食,” which looks like rice on a table, and the right side is “反.” “食” indicates something related to food, while “反” represents the pronunciation.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In oracle bone script, the left side of “好” is “女,” which can represent a woman or a mother, and the right side is “子,” which can represent a child or a male. One interpretation is that in matrilineal societies, women were highly respected, partly due to their ability to bear and raise children. The meaning of “好” as “good” or “beautiful” likely stems from this association with women’s role in reproduction and child-rearing. In ancient times, the act of women giving birth and raising children was regarded as a virtue, which led to the extension of the meaning of “good” or “beautiful.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: The radical of “够” is “夕.” In oracle bone script, the shape of “夕” resembles a moon, which represents the night and also signifies the long accumulation of time from morning to night. The original meaning of “够” refers to having enough, or reaching a certain number or degree.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient scripts, the character “能” resembled a bear, with its large mouth facing downward, legs and feet at the front and back, hooked claws on its feet, and a short tail. Later, the character “能” was borrowed to mean “skill” or “ability” and could also function as a verb indicating subjective capability. The meaning of “bear,” however, was taken on by the newly created character “熊.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: The ancient form of the character “自” resembles a person’s nose, and later it was borrowed to represent the first-person pronoun, meaning “oneself.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: One explanation is that in the Bronze Script, the character “是” consists of a sundial on top and the character “正” (upright) below, with the basic meaning of upright and not skewed. It later extended to mean correctness and further evolved into a response word, expressing agreement or approval. After the Han dynasty, “是” was used as a copula to indicate judgment.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In Oracle Bone Script, the upper part of the character “先” depicts a foot with visible toes, while the lower part represents a standing person. The image of a person lifting their foot to step forward conveys the meaning of being ahead. Thus, the basic meaning of “先” is “to be in front,” which later extended to indicate precedence in time or space.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In Oracle Bone Script, the character “問” is composed of “門” (door) and “口” (mouth), representing a person outside the door asking someone inside a question. Therefore, the original meaning of “問” is to seek answers to something one does not know.

Chinese Studies Classroom: “六” is a pictographic character. In Oracle Bone Script, it resembles a simple hut and was originally used to represent the concept of “hut” (lú). Because the ancient pronunciations of lú (“hut”) and liù (“six”) were similar, the character “六” was repurposed to mean “six.” To avoid confusion, a new character, 庐 (lú), was created to specifically represent the meaning of “hut.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: Chinese characters related to “犭” are often associated with animals. For example: 猫 (māo; cat), 狗 (gǒu; dog), 豬/猪 (zhū; pig), etc.

Chinese Studies Classroom: The ancient form of the character “教” resembles a hand holding a small stick, which can be understood as a teacher holding a teaching rod. “子” represents a child. “爻” here is a phonetic component, indicating that in ancient times, the pronunciation of “教” was similar or identical to “爻.” These components together depict a teacher holding a teaching rod, urging a child to learn. The original meaning of “教” is to instruct or educate.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient characters, the word “音” is formed by adding a small dot to the “tongue” radical, symbolizing that sound comes from the tongue. This sound can refer to speech produced by a person or the pleasant tones emitted by a musical instrument.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient characters, the word “樂” consists of a wooden structure representing a Chinese stringed instrument at the bottom, and silk strings at the top. The original meaning of “樂” referred to a type of stringed instrument. Later, it came to represent all musical instruments. Since music can bring joy and happiness, the character “樂” (yuè) extended to mean “joy.” When it refers to happiness or joy, it is pronounced “樂” (lè).

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient characters, the top part of “幾” consists of two “幺” characters, which resemble silk threads. When placed together, they represent something very small. The bottom part of “幾” depicts a person standing with a weapon, “戈,” on their shoulder. Therefore, the original meaning of “幾” is to observe subtle signs of something and take action. Over time, the meaning expanded from “subtle” to imply “almost” or “nearly.” Similarly, based on the idea of “smallness,” “幾” can also represent an indefinite small number, which later evolved to mean “how many.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: In Western Zhou Bronze Script, the upper right part of the character “有” represents a hand, while the lower left part depicts a piece of meat, resembling the cross-section of meat. It signifies having meat in hand, meaning “having“ food.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient characters, the word “子” resembled an infant in a swaddling cloth. Therefore, the original meaning of “子” is “baby,” which later extended to mean “children” or “offspring.”

Chinese Studies Classroom: In Oracle Bone Script, the character “女” resembled a woman kneeling with her hands crossed in front of her chest. The meaning of “女” is female or woman.

Chinese Studies Classroom: In ancient script, the left side of the character “明” represents the sun, and the right side represents the moon. The original meaning of this character is the radiant light produced when the sun and moon shine together.