明 | míng

In Mandarin Chinese, 明 (Pinyin: míng 🔊) is a word of many meanings. As an adjective, it stands for “bright”, “brilliant”, “light”, “clear”, “transparent”, “apparent”, “open”, “acute”, “sharp”, “keen”, “intelligent”, “perceptive” and, less obviously, “next” or “following”. As a noun, it can mean “vision”, “sight” or “light”, as well as “tomorrow”. As a verb, it can mean “to understand”, “to know”, “to make known” or “to show”. As you can clearly see, these many senses are related and linked to the concept of light. Also, 明 may refer to the Ming dynasty, 明朝 (1368—1644), also referred to as “Great Ming”, 大明 (Dàmíng).

Does the character 明 look familiar to you? Of course it does: it’s a combination of our old friends 日 “sun” and 月 “moon”. According to Wiktionary, 明 could be interpreted as “the sun just rising and the moon not yet set — dawn” or, alternatively, as “two bright celestial bodies — bright”. Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

Originally, 月 moon + 向 (ventilation hole) → bright moonlight streaming through an open window, and manifesting the hidden → brightness; light. Extended meanings from the idea of the light of dawn (signaling the end of one day and the start of the next) include spend/pass (the night); be visible; the next/following (day/week/year); begin; end; and dawn. Disclose and confide are extended senses of “open” (open up to), as are clarity; evident and obvious. Be conversant with is via the idea of illumination, here with respect to a particular subject matter.

Elsewhere, Howell consistently refers to 明 as “manifest the hidden”.

Compounds of 明 include

• 明 + 明 = 明明 (míngmíng 🔊): obviously, plainly, clearly
• 明 + 白 = 明白 (míngbai, míngbái): clear, obvious, evident; open, explicit, frank; sensible, reasonable
• 明 + 人 = 明人 (míngrén): honest and upright person
• 明 + 天 = 明天 (míngtiān 🔊): tomorrow; near future
• 天 + 明 = 天明 (tiānmíng): to break (of dawn)
• 明 + 星 = 明星 (míngxīng 🔊): celebrity, star
• 明 + 日 = 明日 (míngrì): tomorrow; (literary, figurative) future
• 明 + 月 = 明月 (míngyuè): bright moon; next month
• 月 + 明 = 月明 (yuèmíng): moonlight

It’s haiku time!

木をつみて 夜の明やすき 小窓かな 子規 ki o tsumite yo no akeyasuki komado kana the tree cut, dawn breaks early at my little window Shiki (Translated by Janine Beichman)

窓明て 蝶を見送る 野原哉 一茶 mado akete chō wo mi-okuru no hara kana opening the window I see the butterfly off... into the field Issa (Translated by David G. Lanoue)

More photos related to bright stuff, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

喜 | xǐ

In Mandarin Chinese, 喜 is a word with a number of meanings — and three similar but different pronunciations.

1. 喜 (Pinyin: xǐ 🔊)
   adj. happy, joyful, celebratory;
   n. pregnancy (that is, a happy event);
   v. to like, to love, to enjoy
2. 喜 (Pinyin: xī 🔊)
   1. Archaic form of 嬉 v. to enjoy, to play
   2. Alternative form of 熙 adj. bright, splendid, glorious
3. 喜 (Pinyin: chì), a variant form of 饎
   n. food
   v. to cook

According to Wiktionary, 喜 is an ideogrammic compound of 壴 “drum” and 口 “mouth”. In its turn, 壴 is said to be a pictogram of a “drum 口 with two ends, a base and feathers 土 on top”. It’s not clear what “two ends” refer to. Does it mean that the drum is placed horizontally? But historical forms of 喜 contain a variety of “drums” — some look like djembe and others like timpani.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 壴 as described in 鼓 (round drum set on a stand) + 口 mouth → joyful voices at a feast with musical accompaniment → joy; gladness; like; be fond of; pleasure; happiness → good; desirable; congratulations.

Food and samba: totally my kind of party.

An alternative form of this character, 憙, contains our old friend 心, “heart-mind”:

Combining 喜 with another word for joy, 乐, we get 喜乐 (xǐlè), which means, well, “joy”. Happy joy. Real joy. Not any old semblance of joy but, you know — joy joy.

Other compounds of 喜 include:

• 喜 + 爱 = 喜爱 (xǐ'ài): to like, to be fond of, to be keen on, to love
• 喜 + 好 = 喜好 (xǐhào): to like, to be fond of, to be keen on
• 喜 + 气 = 喜气 (xǐqì): cheerful atmosphere
• 喜 + 感 = 喜感 (xǐgǎn): (neologism) comical, funny, humorous
• 喜 + 雨 = 喜雨 (xǐyǔ): welcome rain (after a drought)
• 大 + 喜 = 大喜 (dàxǐ): (literary) very happy, overjoyed; good news; wedding

I just came across this beautiful poem attributed to Tsangyang Gyatso, 6^th Dalai Lama (1683—1706); some alternative translations are here.

你见，或者不见我 我就在那里 不悲不喜	Whether you see me or not I’m right here Not sad not glad
你念，或者不念我 情就在那里 不来不去	Whether you miss me or not The affection is right here Not rising not falling
你爱，或者不爱我 爱就在那里 不增不减	Whether you love me or not The love is right here No more no less
你跟，或者不跟我 我的手就在你手里 不离不弃	Whether you accompany me or not My hand is in yours Not clinging not giving
来我的怀里 或者让我住进你的心里 默然 相爱 寂静 欢喜	Come into my arms Or let me reside in your heart Love with serenity Rejoice in silence

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意 | yì

In Mandarin Chinese, 意 (Pinyin: yì 🔊) is a word with many meanings, one of which, by the way, is “meaning”. It also can mean “thought”, “idea”, “opinion”, “mind”, “heart”, “soul”, “conscience”, “intention”, “wish”, “desire”... Also, 意 is short for 意大利 (Yìdàlì 🔊), “Italy”.

At the base of 意 — or shall I say, at its heart? — is our old friend 心, “heart-mind”. But what’s on top? According to Wiktionary,

Modern form is a compound of 音 and 心 (“heart”). However, the top component is etymologically unrelated to 音.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 音 (contained) + 心 heart/emotions → keep contained in the heart (compare 念) → (deep) thought; mind; signification.

But I can’t find the meaning “contained” for 音. Instead, it has many other meanings, all ultimately related to sound, and it is pronounced yīn (🔊). So I think I can safely say that 意 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 音 and semantic 心.

Many compounds of 意 include

• 意 + 中 + 人 = 意中人 (yìzhōngrén): the person one has in mind, the object of one’s affections, one’s beloved
• 意 + 思 = 意思 (yìsi 🔊, yìsī): meaning, significance; interest, fun; hint, trace; opinion, view; token of appreciation; friendship, camaraderie
• 好 + 意思 = 好意思 (hǎoyìsi, hǎoyìsī): to feel no shame; to have the nerve; to dare
• 好 + 意 = 好意 (hǎoyì 🔊): good intention; kindness
• 美 + 意 = 美意 (měiyì): good intention; kindness
• 中 + 意 = 中意 (zhòngyì 🔊): to be to one’s liking; to catch the fancy of
• 生 + 意 = 生意: 1. (shēngyi): business, trade; 2. (shēngyì): vitality
• 大 + 意 = 大意 (dàyì 🔊): (n.) general idea, main points; (adj.) careless, negligent
• 天 + 意 = 天意 (tiānyì): will of heaven, God’s will, providence; will of the emperor
• 公 + 意 = 公意 (gōngyì): will of the public
• 心 + 意 = 心意 (xīnyì): feelings; intention, purpose, intent, inclination, disposition; friendly regard, affection
• 一 + 心 + 一 + 意 = 一心一意 (yīxīnyīyì): heart and soul; wholeheartedly
• 三 + 心 + 二 + 意 = 三心二意 (sānxīn'èryì): shilly-shally; half-hearted

More photos related to thought, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

快 | kuài

In Mandarin Chinese, 快 (Pinyin: kuài 🔊) is an adjective with many meanings: “fast”, “quick”, “sharp”, “clever”, “frank”, “straightforward”, “pleased”, “happy”. It is also used as an adverb meaning “soon” or “almost”.

According to Wiktionary, 快 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 夬 (guài) and semantic 忄, a radical form of 心, “heart/mind”.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 夬 (scoop out) + 心 heart/emotions → pleasant; comfortable (← heart with all the unpleasantness scooped out of it) → refreshing; enjoyable.

Compounds of 夬 include

• 快 + 人 = 快人 (kuàirén): a frank and open person
• 快 + 门 = 快门 (kuàimén): shutter (of a camera)
• 手 + 快 = 手快 (shǒukuài): fast; having quick hands
• 飞 + 快 = 飞快 (fēikuài): 1) razor sharp; 2) extremely fast, at lightning speed
• 大 + 快 + 人 + 心 = 大快人心 (dàkuàirénxīn): to everybody’s satisfaction

More photos related to fast stuff, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

美 | měi

In Mandarin Chinese, 美 (Pinyin: měi 🔊) has many meanings most of which have something to do with beauty. It could be an adjective for “beautiful”, “pretty”, “good-looking”, “fine”, “delicious” etc.; a verb meaning “to beautify”, “to praise”, “to be pleased with oneself”; or a noun for “beauty”, “beautiful things” or “good deed”.

According to Wiktionary, 美 is a pictogram of

羊 (“goat, sheep or feathers”) + 大 (“big”) — a person with a headdress of feathers or ram’s horn.

Likewise, Uncle Hanzi mentions “possibly a sheep skin hat”. Not exactly the first thing that I associate with beauty, but why not. Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

The present form combines 大 person standing outstretched and 羊 sheep (originally, goat), but neither of these elements can supply the Old Chinese pronunciation of the character. The phonetically close term conveyed by 㒼 <mán 🔊> <...> suggests that 美, like 㒼, involved the notion “cover the body completely with an animal skin that has its head still attached”. The exact provenance of the meanings beautiful and good is uncertain, as is the identity of the element replaced by 大.

Many compounds of 美 include

• 美 + 好 = 美好 (měihǎo): fine, wonderful, glorious, happy
• 美 + 人 = 美人 (měirén): beautiful woman, lovely lady
• 美 + 甲 “nail” = 美甲 (měijiǎ): manicure and pedicure
• 美 + 容 “to allow” = 美容 (měiróng): to have a beauty treatment
• 美容 + 院 “courtyard” = 美容院 (měiróngyuàn): beauty parlour
• 美 + 工 “work” = 美工 (měigōng): art design

美 is also short for 亚美利加 / 亞美利加 (Yàměilìjiā), which is a phonetic approximation of the word “America”. So make no mistake: 美国 means “American country”, not “beautiful country”.

• 美 + 洲 “continent” = 美洲 (Měizhōu): America (as a continent), Americas
• 中 “centre” + 美洲 = 中美洲 (Zhōngměizhōu 🔊): Central America
• 北 “north” + 美洲 = 北美洲 (Běiměizhōu 🔊): North America
• 南 “south” + 美洲 = 南美洲 (Nánměizhōu): South America
• 美 + 国 “country” = 美国 (Měiguó 🔊): the United States of America

More photos related to beauty, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

工 | gōng

In Mandarin Chinese, 工 (Pinyin: gōng 🔊) has a variety of meanings related to work. Apart from “work” itself, it could stand for “worker”, “working class”, “working day”, “industry”, “skill” or “project”.

According to Wiktionary, 工 is a pictogram of “a bladed tool”. What tool? Many historical forms of this character remind me of a spade or a shovel. Or maybe of an axe head — cf. 王 (which is like 工 with an extra stroke) and discussion therein. On the other hand, Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 工 is

A depiction of a long hollow tube used as a tool both to pierce and to connect → work; construct (← work/construct using connecting pipes/tubes) → artisan; specialist; skillful.

Many compounds of 工 include

• 工 + 人 = 工人 (gōngrén 🔊): worker, labourer
• 人 + 工 = 人工 (réngōng 🔊): man-made, artificial
• 木 + 工 = 木工 (mùgōng): woodwork, carpentry; woodworker, carpenter
• 小 + 工 = 小工 (xiǎogōng): unskilled worker
• 大 + 工 = 大工 (dàgōng): (literary) skilled worker; carpenter
• 天 + 工 = 天工 (tiāngōng): (literary) work of nature

More photos related to beads, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

竹 | zhú

In Mandarin Chinese, 竹 (Pinyin: zhú) means “bamboo”. According to Wiktionary, 竹 shows

two bamboo stalks, with leaves. Earlier forms resembled 个 + 个, current form resembles rather ケ + ケ.

Lawrence J. Howell explains in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that 竹 is

A depiction of a pair of rigid, tubular bamboo stalks rising from the earth.

There are many toponyms that are compounds of 竹, for example

• 大 + 竹 = 大竹 (Dàzhú): Dazhu
• 竹 + 北 = 竹北 (Zhúběi): Zhubei
• 竹 + 南 = 竹南 (Zhúnán): Zhunan (Chunan)
• 竹 + 山 = 竹山 (Zhúshān): Zhushan
• 黄 + 竹山 = 黄竹山 (Huángzhúshān): Huangzhushan

and so on.

More photos related to bamboo @ Shutterstock.

年 | nián

In Mandarin Chinese, 年 (Pinyin: nián 🔊) is a generic term for a “year” as well as other related things such as “age”, “period of life”, “period of history”, “harvest” and “New Year”. Some compound words of 年 include

• 大 + 年 = 大年 (dànián): another word for “Spring Festival” (Chinese New Year)
• 千 + 年 = 千年 (qiānnián): thousand years; millennium
• 中 + 年 = 中年 (zhōngnián 🔊): middle age; middle-aged
• 新 + 年 = 新年 (xīnnián 🔊): New Year

According to Wiktionary,

In the oracle bone script and early bronze inscriptions, it was originally 秂, an ideogrammic compound and phono-semantic compound: semantic 禾 (“wheat; grain”) + phonetic 人 (“person”) — a person carrying wheat on his back — harvest.

(I am pretty sure it was rice, not wheat.)

In bronze inscriptions after the Western Zhou period, a stroke was often added to 人 to give 千 , which still acted as a phonetic component, and this form was inherited by later scripts. The current form is simplified from 秊.

More photos related to harvest, New Year and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

虫 | chóng

In Mandarin Chinese, 虫 (Pinyin: chóng) is a word for “insect”, “bug”, “worm”, or, in Old Chinese, an animal in general. A compound of 大 and 虫, 大虫 (dàchóng), means “large insect”, but also has another, “literary or dialectal, euphemistic” meaning: “tiger”. (Good thing they eventually came up with less ambiguous 虎.)

According to Wiktionary,

The character originally represented a type of venomous snake, while the derivative 蟲 represented worms and insects (or insect-like things). 虫 eventually came to represent worms and insects as well, and the character 虺 was created to represent the original meaning.

To me, 虫 on its own looks like a pictogram of a flying (from left to right) insect, and nothing like a snake. It is considered to be a ”simplified” form of the traditional character 蟲, however, it seems more logical to consider 蟲 a “complicated” form of 虫. After all, 蟲 is just a pile of three 虫s. Another meaning of 蟲, “plague of insects”, makes perfect sense then.

虫 is also a radical that is found in many other hanzi. We saw it before as a part of 風, the traditional form of 风 (fēng). This is because “Ancient Chinese thought insects appear with wind”.

More photos related to insects and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

太 | tài

In Mandarin Chinese, 太 (Pinyin: tài 🔊) is used either as an adverb “so”, “too”, “very”, or an adjective meaning “greatest”, “highest”, “noble”, “senior”, “utmost” etc. 太 is extremely common: “is one of the 1000 most commonly used words” in the Collins Chinese Dictionary. There are many compound words starting with 太, such as 太平 (tàipíng) “peace and tranquility”, 太空 (tàikōng) “space”, 太太 (tàitai) “wife”, or 太爷爷 / 太爺爺 (tàiyéye) “great-grandfather”.

By now we’ve got used to the figurative meanings of Chinese numerals (e.g. 万 means “ten thousand” but also “all”, “countless” and so on). Well, in case of 太 the opposite seems to be true as well: in Mainland China, 太 is employed as prefix “tera-” (10¹²), as in 太字节 / 太字節 (tàizìjié) “terabyte”.

Just like now-familiar 犬 “dog”, 太 consists of 大, “big”, modified with a stroke 丶; however in the case of 太 the stroke moved from the presumed “ear” position to somewhere, er, between the “legs”.

More photos of sea glass @ Shutterstock.

犬 | quǎn

In Chinese, 犬 (Pinyin: quǎn) means “dog”. In modern Mandarin, this character is used either as a radical or a part of compound words, for example 牧羊犬 (mùyángquǎn 🔊) “sheepdog” — cf. 牧羊人 (mùyángrén 🔊) “shepherd”.

According to Wiktionary,

Compound characters such as 狇 mostly use the alternative form <犭> at the left of the character. Most represent something to do with dogs or other animals. A smaller proportion (e. g. 狀) use the primary form at the right of the character. A few even show both forms: in 獄 which means “prison” or “litigation”; “words” (言) stand between two dogs to keep them from biting each other.

犬 is written like our other old friend 大, “big”, modified with a dot or a stroke 丶. Wiktionary explains that

the dot is the ear. <That’s why our seaglass 犬 above have got an earring.> In the form 犭, a dog that is up on its hind legs.

Many historical forms of this character look more like a dog standing on its tail.

More photos related to dogs and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

小 | xiǎo

In Mandarin Chinese, 小 (Pinyin: xiǎo 🔊) means “small”, “short”, “little”, “minor”, “young” and such like. We’ve already seen 小 as a part of another character, 少 .

Wiktionary provides two interpretations of 小:

1. It shows a person (人) with lowered arms, implying the meaning of small. In contrast, 大 (the character for large), symbolizes a person (人) with arms outstretched.
2. It shows an item divided into smaller parts 八 by a knife 亅.

Ponte Ryūrui, quoting Xǔ Shèn, writes that

小 represents small objects (such as shells or precious stones), or, more precisely, one object that was divided (the division is symbolised by “｜”) into eight parts (hence the shape of 八...)

Uncle Hanzi is more laconic:

Pictograph of three dots. Meaning small pieces.

More photos of sea glass @ Shutterstock.

王 | wáng

In Mandarin Chinese, 王 (Pinyin: wáng 🔊) means “king”. Wang (or Wong) is a popular family name shared by, among others, the film director Kar-wai Wong (王家卫; Wáng Jiāwèi) and the world-famous concert pianist Yuja Wang (王羽佳; Wáng Yǔjiā).

Ponte Ryūrui describes two theories of this character’s origin. One is that 王 is a pictogram of an axe head, where the bottom stroke corresponds to the axe blade. Many historical forms of this character indeed show the bottom stroke thicker and/or having a fancier shape.

The association of the axe with the ruler comes from a ceremonial axe that was kept near the throne, and was used for performing rituals in ancient China.

Another theory is more symbolic:

The three vertical lines depict three powers: Heaven, Earth and Man (天地人), which are then connected by a vertical line symbolising the ruler bracing those powers and taking control over them.

Again, many historical forms of 王 show a man-like figure, 大 or 天 above a horizontal stroke (earth?).

More photos related to kings and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

天 | tiān

In Mandarin Chinese, 天 (Pinyin: tiān 🔊) means “sky”, “heavens”, “heaven” or “day”.

OK, the sky is big, right? Much bigger than a man with outstretched arms 大 can ever show, no matter how hard he tries. That’s why there is a line over his head. A whole new level. Some historical forms of this character show a stickman with a large head, or a line instead of a head.

More photos of sky and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

大 | dà

In Mandarin Chinese, 大 (Pinyin: dà 🔊) means “big”, “large”, “great” and so on.

As we already know, 人 stands for a person, and this person is standing on two legs. Let’s give arms to this person. Now this person is showing with wide open arms how big something is. That big! There is a variety of historical forms of this character, and most of them look like a stickman with arms and legs, drawn en face.

More photos of people and sea glass @ Shutterstock.