蛛 | zhū

In Mandarin Chinese, 蛛 (Pinyin: zhū 🔊) means “spider”. According to Wiktionary, 蛛 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 虫 (“insect”) and phonetic 朱 (zhū), while Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters that “the conceptual influence lent here by 朱 is uncertain”.

There are not too many compounds of 蛛. One of them is 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū 🔊) which is another word for spider. In Chinese, the 蜘 part is not used on its own; in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese 蜘 also means “spider”. So does the reduplicated form, 蛛蛛 (zhūzhu). A compound of 蛛 with 网 “net”, 蛛网 (zhūwǎng), means “spider web”.

In Japanese, 蜘蛛 is pronounced kumo (🔊).

蜘蛛何と 音を何と鳴く 秋の風 芭蕉 Kumo nan to oto wo nan to naku aki no kaze With what voice, And what song would you sing, spider, In this autumn breeze? Bashō (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

More photos related to spiders, 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.

东 | dōng

In Mandarin Chinese, 东 (Pinyin: dōng 🔊) means “east”; also, “landlord”, “owner” or “host”.

Interesting expressions containing 东 include

• 东 + 风 = 东风 (dōngfēng): east winds (that blow in spring); figuratively, favourable situation, momentum or driving force
• 马 + 耳 + 东风 = 马耳东风 (mǎ ěr dōngfēng): not the least bit concerned. It comes from a poem by Li Bai:

  世人闻此皆掉头，
  有如东风射马耳。
  (Shìrén wén cǐ jiē diàotóu,
  yǒu rú dōngfēng shè mǎ ěr)
  “When the people of this world hear this, all shake their heads,
  As if the east wind shot through the horse’s ear.”

• 东 ... 西 ... : “east ... west ...” a common construction implying some sort of movement from side to side, for example:
  • 东一句西一句 (dōng yījù xī yījù): speak without any sense of coherence
  • 东倒西歪 (dōng dǎo xī wāi): walk unsteadily
  • 东逃西窜: (dōng táo xī cuàn): to scurry from place to place, especially when being chased
  • 东观西望: (dōng guān xī wàng): to look around in observation

东 is a simplified form of the traditional character 東. According to Wiktionary, 東

originally represented a bag tied at both ends (like a cellophane-wrapped candy with the ends twisted), and was later borrowed phonetically to mean “east”. This borrowing may have been influenced by reinterpreting the character as the sun (日) rising behind a tree (木), which is the traditional (though incorrect) etymology, as given in Shuowen.

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

A depiction of a sack bound on two ends, with a stick run through it. East is either a borrowed meaning or an extended one, in the sense of the direction of the rising sun (the rays of which figuratively pierce the earth) → (in historical usage) eastern Japan.

More photos related to east and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

行 | xíng | háng

In Mandarin Chinese, 行 is an interesting word with a number of pronunciations and meanings. As a verb (Pinyin: xíng 🔊), it could mean “to walk”, “to go”, “to move”, “to carry out”, “to execute”, “to perform”, “to be good”, “to work” etc. Some compound words of 行 (xíng) include

• 行 + 云 = 行云 (xíngyún): a drifting cloud
• 行 + 星 = 行星 (xíngxīng): “moving star”, i.e. planet
• 五 + 行 = 五行 (Wǔ Xíng): although widely known as “the Five Elements”, it is better translated as “the Five Movements”; historically, the five planets
• 出 + 行 = 出行 (chūxíng): to set out on a long journey
• 风 + 行 = 风行 (fēngxíng): to spread or proceed quickly; to be in fashion

As a noun (háng), it could mean “profession”, “trade”, “business”, “place”, “line” (of objects) or “row”. Yet as another noun (pronounced either xíng 🔊 or xìng 🔊) it also could mean “behaviour” or “conduct”.

行 is derived from a pictogram of a street intersection. According to Wiktionary,

Originally symmetric, it has been simplified asymmetrically; the left half 彳 is widely used as a radical, while the right half 亍 finds occasional use, and the character can be broken up as 彳 + 亍, though originally it was not a compound.

But how “crossroads” came to represent all those disparate concepts? Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters provides the following connection:

A depiction of straight and crossing roads extending into the distance → go; movement; procession; road → line (of people) → conduct; do; perform (← carry out an action).

tournez à droite, tournez à gauche, tout droit, carrefour, La maison du Matcha, waka waka //
turn right, turn left, straight ahead, crossroads, The House of Matcha, waka waka

More photos related to roads and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

More adventures of sumo wrestler cat @ My leçons de French.

季 | jì

In Mandarin Chinese, 季 (Pinyin: jì 🔊) is a noun that means “quarter of a year” or “season”. 四季 (sìjì), naturally, refers to four seasons, i.e. 春 (spring), 夏 (summer), 秋 (autumn) and 冬 (winter). Some other compound words of 季 include

• 季 + 风 = 季风 (jìfēng 🔊): monsoon
• 雨 + 季 = 雨季 (yǔjì): rainy season
• 花 + 季 = 花季 (huājì): the flower of one’s youth
• 月 + 季 = 月季 (yuèjì): China rose (Rosa chinensis)

According to Wiktionary, 季 is an ideogrammic compound of 禾 “grain” and 子 “a child”, “a seed” etc.

More photos related to rice, cereals, grains and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

春 | chūn

In Mandarin Chinese, 春 (Pinyin: chūn 🔊) is a noun that means “spring season” as well as “vitality”, “energy”, “life”, “lust”, “passion”, “sexual desire” — many things that are associated with springtime. Some interesting compound words of 春 include

• 春 + 节 = 春节 (chūnjié): “Spring Festival” (Chinese New Year)
• 小 + 春 = 小春 (xiǎochūn): literally, “little spring” but in fact early autumn, Indian summer
• 春 + 风 = 春风 (chūnfēng): literally, “spring breeze” but also figuratively “favour”, “grace”, “education”, “teaching”, “guidance” and, you may have guessed, “lovemaking”

春 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 日 “sun”, semantic 艸 “grass” and phonetic 屯 (tún). In some historical forms of this character one can clearly see all three components. According to Wiktionary,

The character 春 itself is probably a variant of 屯 as they are equivalent for the meaning “spring” in Old Chinese literature.

More photos related to spring 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.

风 | fēng

In Mandarin Chinese, 风 (Pinyin: fēng 🔊) means “wind”.

风 is a simplified version of the traditional character 風. Uncle Hanzi derives this latter character from phonetic 凡 (fán) “sail” and semantic 虫 “insect” or “snake”. (The meaning of 凡 has little to do with a sail, but there is a similarly-looking 帆 which is also pronounced as fán and means “a sail” or “a sailboat”.) 虫 (chóng) means “insect”. According to Wiktionary, “Ancient Chinese thought insects appear with wind”. So far so good, but then it goes, “Insects refer to any kind of animal, such as tigers”. Maybe not too straightforward way to memorise it for a modern learner. Forget the insects: you still can think of 风 as depicting a sail, a flag, or, as Tamara has suggested, a curtain moving with the wind.

A combination of 风 with 水 results in 风水 (fēng shuǐ) which is a name of a famous Chinese philosophical system, Feng shui.

More photos of wind and sea glass @ Shutterstock.