乐 | yuè | lè

In Mandarin Chinese, 乐 is a character for two different words:

1. 乐 (Pinyin: yuè 🔊): n. music, tune, melody, song
2. 乐 (Pinyin: lè 🔊): adj. joyful, happy, glad, enjoyable, fun; n. happiness, joy, pleasure; v. to laugh, to smile, to enjoy, to love

乐 is a simplified form of the traditional character 樂. According to Wiktionary, 樂 is an

Ideogrammic compound: 糸 (“string”) + 木 (“wood”) — strings on a piece of wood, i.e. a wooden musical instrument. The oracle bone form shows two strings connected to the wood. In the bronze inscriptions, a 白 component was added in between the two strings, which may either represent the thumb (fiddling) or a phonetic part.

Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters gives a different explanation:

A depiction of an oak tree with acorns (ground into powder via a lengthy grinding process). Music and enjoyment are onomatopoeic, borrowed meanings, the pronunciation of the character simulating the din of a crowd → play (an instrument); amuse oneself; pleasant; fun; happy; delightful; comfort; easy.

Compounds of 乐 (1) include

• 乐 + 队 “team” = 乐队 (yuèduì): music band
• 国 + 乐 = 国乐 (guóyuè): national music
• 俗 “common” + 乐 = 俗乐 (súyuè): folk music
• 西 + 乐 = 西乐 (xīyuè): Western music

And those of 乐 (2):

• 乐 + 土 = 乐土 (lètǔ): land of happiness; paradise
• 乐 + 子 = 乐子 (lèzi): a little fun; a good time
• 快 + 乐 = 快乐 (kuàilè 🔊): happy; joyful; cheerful

One of the meaning of 快 is “happy”, so 快乐 is like “happy happy”. In its turn, 快乐 is a part of many “happy” wishes such as

• 生 + 日 + 快乐 = 生日快乐 (shēngrì kuàilè 🔊): Happy Birthday!
• 新 + 年 + 快乐 = 新年快乐 (xīnnián kuàilè): Happy New Year!
• 春 + 节 + 快乐 = 春节快乐 (chūnjié kuàilè): Happy Spring Festival, Happy Chinese New Year

In Japanese, a simplified (shinjitai) form of 樂 is used, viz. 楽. Similar to Chinese, 楽 corresponds to two different words:

1. がく (gaku): n. music
2. らく (raku): adj. comfortable, easy, simple; n. comfort, ease, enjoyment, simplicity

楽書の 壁をあはれむ 今朝の雪 蕪村 Rakugaki no kabe wo awaremu kesa no yuki The scribbling on the wall, — It looks pitiful, This morn of snow. Buson (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

Here, 楽書, literally “writing for fun”, is an alternative way to spell 落書き / らくがき (rakugaki 🔊), “doodle”, “graffiti”, “scrawl”, “scribble”, etc.

More photos related to music, happiness, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

蛙 | wā

In Mandarin Chinese, 蛙 (Pinyin: wā 🔊) is a word for frog.

According to Wiktionary, 蛙 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 虫 (“insect; creature”) and phonetic 圭 which, in turn, is a duplication of our old friend 土. Now, English speakers think the frog goes “ribbit” (🔊). But this is only because of Baja California chorus frog who happen to live near Hollywood. For Dutch, frogs go “kwaak kwaak”, for Russians — “ква-ква” and for Chinese — 呱呱 (wā wā). If you remember “wā wā”, you’ll remember “wā” too.

Does 蛙 look like a frog? Not really, not to me. Look, here’s a frog:

And here’s a sailboat pursuing, er, two smaller boats:

In Japanese, 蛙 is pronounced kaeru (🔊) or, in poetry, kawazu. Here’s probably the most famous haiku ever:

古池や 蛙飛こむ 水の音 芭蕉 Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto The old pond; A frog jumps in, — The sound of the water. Bashō

I used the classic translation by R.H. Blyth; if you don’t like it, there are at least thirty-one others.

More photos related to frogs, calligraphy and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

尘 | chén

In Mandarin Chinese, 尘 (Pinyin: chén 🔊) is a noun that means “dust”, “dirt”, “ashes”, “cinders” and so on. Figuratively, it also means “dirty thing”, “war”, “warfare” — well, war is a dirty thing. In Buddhism, 尘 refers to the mundane world, mortal life, etc.

尘 is said to be a simplified form of the traditional character 塵. Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters explains the origin of 塵 as

鹿 (long herd of) deer + 土 earth → dust kicked up by an advancing herd of deer → dirt → trash; waste.

Therefore, the 鹿 part somehow got simplified to 小, which, you may recall, on its own means “small”.

On the other hand, Wiktionary says:

According to the Kangxi dictionary, 尘 is an ancient form of 塵.

In any case, 小 “small” + 土 “earth” → 尘 “dust” makes perfect sense to me, and 尘 is easier to remember, read and write than 塵.

Some compounds of 尘 include

• 灰 + 尘 = 灰尘 (huīchén 🔊): dust
• 风 + 尘 = 风尘 (fēngchén): (literally) windblown dust; (figuratively) hardships of travel; vicissitudes of life; prostitution
• 红 + 尘 = 红尘 (hóngchén): (literally) dust; (figuratively) bustling places, human society; worldly affairs etc.
• 玉 + 尘 = 玉尘 (yùchén): (literary) snow; petal
• 沙 + 尘 = 沙尘 (shāchén): dust and sand; yellow dust (in the air)
• 沙尘 + 暴 = 沙尘暴 (shāchénbào): dust storm, sandstorm; calima

More photos of dust, earth, ashes, snow, petals and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

辰 | chén

In Mandarin Chinese, 辰 (Pinyin: chén 🔊) is the fifth of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Dragon (龙) of the Chinese zodiac; the third month; the hour of the Dragon (7 am to 9 am, “the time when Dragons are hovering in the sky to give rain”); and the direction 120° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土. Note that the character 龙 refers to any common-or-garden dragon while 辰 refers only to the zodiac dragon.

Uncle Hanzi says that 辰 is a pictogram of “an Egyptian type hoe, or hoe type plow”. According to Wikipedia,

It has been proposed by one academic researcher that the Earthly Branch character may have been associated with scorpions; it may have symbolized the star Antares.

More photos related to dragons, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

龙 | lóng

In Mandarin Chinese, 龙 (Pinyin: lóng 🔊) means “dragon”. Figuratively, it can mean “emperor”, “king”, “sovereign”, “chief”, “hero” and so on; and, by extension, “dragon-shaped object” and even “long object”. To me, this latter meaning offers a mnemonic for the pronunciation of 龙 (lóng).

The Dragon is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 辰. According to Wikipedia,

The Chinese dragon has very different connotations to European dragon — in European cultures, the dragon is a firebreathing creature with aggressive connotations, whereas the Chinese dragon is a spiritual and cultural symbol that represents prosperity and good luck, as well as a rain deity that fosters harmony.

龙 is a simplified (beyond any recognition) form of the traditional character 龍,

originally a serpent with prominent whiskered mouth and eyes. Current form developed in large seal script, with serpent’s body on right (tail at upper right, legs on right), whiskered/fanged mouth at lower left, and eyes/crown at upper left. Left side was subsequently simplified and abstracted, with some influence of 立 and ⺼/月

while Uncle Hanzi says that it is “probably originally a cobra. Meaning dragon”.

More photos related to dragons, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

未 | wèi

In Mandarin Chinese, 未 (Pinyin: wèi 🔊) is an extremely common word meaning “not” or “have not”. 未 is also the eighth of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Goat (羊) of the Chinese zodiac; the sixth month; the hour of the Goat (1 pm to 3 pm, “the time when Goats eat grass and urinate frequently”); and the direction 210° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土.

Note that the character 羊 refers to any actual caprid animal while 未 refers to the zodiac animal.

More photos related to goats, sheep, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

丑 | chǒu

In Mandarin Chinese, 丑 (Pinyin: chǒu 🔊) is the second of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Ox (牛) of the Chinese zodiac; the twelfth month; the hour of the Ox (1 am to 3 am, “the time when Oxen begin to chew the cud slowly and comfortably”); and the direction 30° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土.

Note that the character 牛 refers to any actual bovid animal while 丑 refers to the “zodiac ox”.

More photos related to cattle, buffalo, bulls, cows, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

戌 | xū

In Mandarin Chinese, 戌 (Pinyin: xū 🔊) is the eleventh of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Dog (狗) of the Chinese zodiac; the ninth month; the hour of the Dog (7 pm to 9 pm, “the time when Dogs carry out their duty of guarding the houses”); and the direction 300° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土.

The character 狗 refers to any actual dog while 戌 refers to the “zodiac dog”. 戌 is thought to be derived from a pictogram for axe, as can be seen in many historical forms of the character.

More photos related to dogs, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

盐 | yán

In Mandarin Chinese, 盐 (Pinyin: yán 🔊) means “salt”.

If you think it looks complicated, I’ve got news for you: 盐 is actually a simplified form of another character. Here:

鹽

And here’s a small seal script form of this hanzi:

Uncle Hanzi explains its origin as follows:

From salt (a bag of alkaline soil) 卤 / 鹵 substituted with soil 土 and phonetic 监 / 監 [simplified to bowl 皿 / 血 and man looking in bowl 臥 substituted with 卜]. Meaning salt.

I hope now everything’s clear.

More photos related to salt @ Shutterstock.

星 | xīng

In Mandarin Chinese, 星 (Pinyin: xīng 🔊) means “star”, broadly speaking: it could be any heavenly body, celebrity, or a star shape. “Star” in a purely astronomical sense is 星星 (xīngxing) — not to be confused with 行星 (xíngxīng), “planet”.

You’d think that the Chinese could have chosen something like ★ to represent a star, but no. The original form of 星 was 曐, which is made of 晶 (jīng) “sparkling” on top of now-familiar 生 (shēng) “to give birth”, “to grow”, etc. In its turn, 晶 consists of three radicals 日 (rì), “sun”. In 星, only one sun is left, but you get the picture. Many historical forms of this character look surprisingly similar to the Western astrological or astronomical symbols.

According to Wǔ Xíng, the five elements correspond to the five visible planets (and vice versa) as follows:

• 水 + 星 = 水星 (Shuǐxīng) “water star” = Mercury
• 金 + 星 = 金星 (Jīnxīng) “metal star” = Venus
• 火 + 星 = 火星 (Huǒxīng) “fire star” = Mars
• 木 + 星 = 木星 (Mùxīng) “wood star” = Jupiter
• 土 + 星 = 土星 (Tǔxīng) “earth star” = Saturn

More photos of stars and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

生 | shēng

In Mandarin Chinese, 生 (Pinyin: shēng 🔊) is a word with many meanings. It could be a verb meaning “to live”, “to grow”, “to give birth” or “to light”, as in 生火 (shēnghuǒ, “to light a fire”); a noun meaning “life”, “living thing” or “student”; an adjective “fresh”, “innate”, “live”, “natural”, “raw”, “unfamiliar”, “uncultivated”, “unripe”; or an adverb “very”. Combining 出 “to go out” with 生, we get 出生 (chūshēng 🔊), “to be born” or “birth”. A combination of 生 and 日 “day” is a word for birthday: 生日 (shēngrì 🔊).

生 may look like 王 (wáng) with an extra stroke, but the origin of this character is very different: 屮 (“bud”) + 土 “earth” = “a sprout coming out of the ground”, i.e. birth, growth etc.

More photos related to buds, shoots, sprouts and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

土 | tǔ

In Mandarin Chinese, 土 (Pinyin: tǔ) means “earth”, “soil” or “clay”. (Also, “crude opium”.)

Earth is one of the five elements of Wǔ Xíng. There are many historical forms of this character that look very much like a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. The modern symbol, however, is more like a scribble of a grave with a simple cross.

More photos of clay, earth, soil and sea glass @ Shutterstock.