梅 | méi

In Mandarin Chinese, 梅 (Pinyin: méi 🔊) means “Chinese plum”. 梅 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 每 (měi 🔊) and semantic 木 (“tree”).

In Japanese, a simplified form of this character is used, 梅 (as 毎 is a simplified version of 每). The famous haiku by Buson goes:

梅遠近 南すべく 北すべく Ume ochikochi minami subeku kita subeku Plum-blossoms here and there, It is good to go north, Good to go south. (Translated by R.H. Blyth)

The compounds of 梅 include

• 梅 + 花 = 梅花 (méihuā): plum blossom
• 梅 + 子 = 梅子 (méizi): Asian plum (the fruit of Prunus mume)
• 梅 + 雨 = 梅雨 (méiyǔ): the East Asian rainy season (as plums ripen during the rainy season)
• 入 + 梅 = 入梅 (rùméi): beginning of the rainy season
• 松 + 竹 + 梅 = 松竹梅 (sōngzhúméi): the Three Friends of Winter, i.e. pine, bamboo and plum, the plants which do not wither in winter. In Japanese, 松竹梅 (shōchikubai) together are the three auspicious symbols of the Japanese New Year and also a three-rank system (where 松 is top, 竹 is middle and 梅 is bottom).

More photos related to plums, 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.

松 | sōng

In Mandarin Chinese, 松 (Pinyin: sōng) is a noun meaning “pine”. 松 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 木 (“wood”) and phonetic 公 (gōng).

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

公 open + 木 tree/wood → pine tree (species with “open” fronds).

Some compounds of 松 include

• 松 + 木 = 松木 (sōngmù): pine wood
• 松 + 子 = 松子 (sōngzǐ): pine nut
• 松 + 花 = 松花 (sōnghuā): pine pollen
• 松 + 果 = 松果 (sōngguǒ): pine cone
• 松 + 针 = 松针 (sōngzhēn): pine needle
• 松 + 鼠 = 松鼠 (sōngshǔ): squirrel

A combination of 松 with 山 (mountain), 松山, is a common placename in China (Sōngshān), Japan (Matsuyama) and Korea (Songsan). In Japanese, there is a beautiful word 松風 (松 + 風), matsukaze, which means “wind blowing through pine trees” or “the sound of such winds”. Matsukaze is a famous Noh play by Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (1333—1384).

Incidentally, the symbol above were created using Canarian pine 松针.

More photos related to pines @ Shutterstock.

合 | hé

In Mandarin Chinese, 合 (Pinyin: hé 🔊) is used as an adjective for “whole”, “entire”; an adverb “together”; and a verb meaning “to add up”, “to be equal to”, “to close”, “to combine”, “to join”, “to unite”, etc.

According to Wiktionary, 合 is an ideogrammic compound of 亼 “to gather from three sides” and 口 “mouth”:

Two mouths speaking together.

Uncle Hanzi says that “top is inverted mouth, bottom mouth, meaning to agree” and adds another explanation: “pot and lid join”. In her Chinese Calligraphy Sourcebook, Yat-Ming Cathy Ho writes:

The top inward-sloping strokes of hé and the horizontal stroke beneath them mean “heaven”, “people” and “earth”.

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

As per 口 (cavity → open container) + an abbreviated form of 今 (contain) → press/fit together a lid on a container, containing objects inside → fit; join; put together; meet. Extended meanings include suit; match; agree/coincide with; correspond to; be correct; add (to); combine; set/adjust (a device); adapt oneself to; and check (with/against).

Some compounds of 合 include

• 合 + 金 = 合金 (héjīn): alloy
• 合 + 十 = 合十 (héshí): “ten together”, i.e. to put the palms together (as a Buddhist greeting)
• 六 + 合 = 六合 (liùhé): the six directions (east, west, north, south, up and down); the whole country
• 百 + 合 = 百合 (bǎihé): lily (“for the numerous segmented and overlapping scales on the bulb of the lily”)
• 好 + 合 = 好合 (hǎohé): happy union (marriage)
• 回 + 合 = 回合 (huíhé): round (of sports, negotiations etc.)

In Japanese, 百合 (lily) is pronounced yuri. Yuri is also a common female given name.

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

杏 | xìng

In Mandarin Chinese, 杏 (Pinyin: xìng 🔊) means “apricot”. 杏 “is one of the 1000 most commonly used words” in the Collins Chinese Dictionary, although it does not explain why it’s so extremely common.

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

口 mouth + 木 tree/wood → apricot (← tree fruit savored in the mouth). Compare 梅, a closely related fruit thought to be beneficial for pregnant women on account of its voluminous production.

Some interesting compounds of 杏 include

• 杏 + 仁 “kernel” = 杏仁 (xìngrén): almond
• 杏 + 月 = 杏月 (Xìngyuè): the second month of the Chinese lunar calendar
• 杏 + 林 = 杏林 (xìnglín): literally, “apricot forest”; figuratively, “fine doctor” or “medical field”. According to Wiktionary, this meaning comes

  from the story of the famed physician Dong Feng [3^rd c. CE], who refused to accept payments from his patients, and instead asked patients successfully cured of ailments to plant apricot trees. A forest of apricot trees came to surround his home as a testament to his skill.

• 银 / 銀 “silver”, “money” + 杏 = 银杏 / 銀杏 (yínxìng): ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

More photos related to apricots, almonds, ginkgo, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

禾 | hé

In Mandarin Chinese, 禾 (Pinyin: hé 🔊) is a noun that means “rice plant” or, more generally “grain” or “cereal”. As a radical, 禾 is found in many hanzi related to crops and farming.

According to Wiktionary, 禾 is a pictogram of a plant stalk. I’m sure you’ve noted the similarity with 木 “tree” and 米 “rice”.

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

苗 | miáo

In Mandarin Chinese, 苗 (Pinyin: miáo 🔊) is a noun that means “seedling”, “sprout”, “young” (of an animal), “descendant”, “offspring” and so on. Some compound words of 苗 include

• 苗 + 木 = 苗木 (miáomù): young tree, sapling
• 苗 + 子 = 苗子 (miáozi): a talented child, “budding”, “in the making”
• 火 + 苗 = 火苗 (huǒmiáo): tongue of flame

According to Wiktionary, 苗 is an ideogrammic compound of 艹 “grass” and 田 “field”. But what it has to do with 猫, “cat”? The origin of the word 猫 (māo) is purely onomatopoetic: the cat is an animal that meows 🔊. Likewise, the word for this very sound, 喵 (miāo), “meow”, is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 口 “mouth” and phonetic 苗.

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

草 | cǎo

In Mandarin Chinese, 草 (Pinyin: cǎo 🔊) is a noun that means “grass”, “straw”, “thatch”, “herb”; by extension, any green plant without bark (or, to use Baldrick’s method of defining things, “not a tree”); “draft”, “sketch” (the scribble that looks like grass?). It also has acquired an euphemistic meaning of the similarly-pronounced vulgar word 肏 (cào).

According to Wiktionary, 草 is a

Phono-semantic compound: semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 早. Originally referred to 皂, and later borrowed for the “grass” sense, replacing 艸.

艹 is a radical form of 艸. We’ve seen it before in such characters as 茶 “tea” and 花 “flower”.

More photos related to grass, herbs, straw and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

花 | huā

In Mandarin Chinese, the literal meaning of 花 (Pinyin: huā 🔊) is “flower”. This word has many figurative meanings, such as “pattern” (floral or otherwise), “pinnacle”, “fireworks”, “a beauty” or “a lady of the night”. 花 forms many compounds, such as 茶花 (cháhuā) “camellia”, 火花 (huǒhuā) “spark” and 水花 (shuǐhuā) “spray”.

The top part of this character, 艹, means “grass”. We’ve seen this radical before as a part of 茶 (chá), “tea”. The bottom part, 化 (huà), in its turn, consists of two 人, i.e. “people”: one upright (亻) and another upside down, together symbolising “change” or “reversal”. According to Ponte Ryūrui,

The bottom part of 花 (化, か, i.e. “action of making something”, “change”) acts purely phonetically, although certain etymology theories suggest to take 化 as “a change” of the state of a plant (blossoming).

More photos related to flowers, fireworks, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.