In Mandarin Chinese, 飞 (Pinyin: fēi🔊) is a word of many meanings. As a verb, it means “to fly”, “to flutter”, or “to evaporate”. It also could be an adjective for “fast”, “unexpected”, “unfounded”, or an adverb “very” or “extremely”.
飞 is a simplified form of the traditional hanzi 飛. If you look carefully, you’ll see that the traditional character contains two飞 bits, one on top of the other. Uncle Hanzi writes “a flying bird with long neck and big wings” without specifying explicitly whether he refers to 飛 or 飞. I see a long neck (and a long beak) and not-so-big wings in the simplified character.
Some compounds of 飞 include
飞 + 天 = 飞天 (fēitiān): to fly in the sky; to travel into space
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
In Mandarin Chinese, 感 (Pinyin: gǎn🔊) is a word of many meanings. As a verb, it can stand for “to feel”, “to perceive”; “to affect”, “to move”, “to touch”; “be affected by”, “be sensitive to”; “be grateful”, “to thank”; “to long for”, “to miss”, “to be sentimental”, “to sigh with emotion”. As a noun, it can mean “emotion”, “feeling”, “sensation”, “sense” or “thought”.
According to Wiktionary, 感 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 咸 and semantic 心, “heart-mind”. Remembering that 心 includes both heart and mind, it’s not difficult to see why Chinese can use the same word 感 for both “emotion” and “thought”.
Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:
咸 (shut) + 心 heart/emotions → emotion/feeling that shuts off sensation (= moves/affects one to the point of muteness or immobility).
However, 咸 really means “all”, “completely”, “together” or “united”. Could the whole combination be “to feel with all heart”?
感 is a simplified form of a traditional character 感. There is a subtle difference between these two. In the traditional 感, the “heart” 心 is drawn inside of the 咸 component, directly below the 口. In the simplified 感, the 心 is placed below the whole 咸 bit.
感 are often combined with other hanzi containing 心 (or its radical form, 忄), for example:
感 + 想 = 感想 (gǎnxiǎng🔊): impressions, reflections, thoughts; to miss, to reminisce, to think of, to yearn for
感 + 念 = 感念 (gǎnniàn): to recall fondly; to recall sadly
音 + 感 = 音感 (yīngǎn): sense of rhythm, pitch, sound, tone quality, etc.
Now for a bit of poetry. Chunwang (春望) is recognised as one of the “best and best-known works” by the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu (杜甫, 712—770). The poem is notoriously difficult to translate. With 春 (chūn) meaning “spring” and 望 (wàng) “to observe”, “to watch”, “to hope”, the title of the poem has been variously rendered as “Spring View”, “Spring Scene”, “Spring Gaze”, “Spring Outlook”, “Spring Prospect”, “Spring Hope” and so on. I like the translation by Vikram Seth, although the name he gave it, Spring Scene in Time of War, conveys more information than needed.
The state lies ruined; hills and streams survive.
Spring in the city; grass and leaves now thrive.
Moved by the times, the flowers shed their dew.
The birds seem startled; they hate parting too.
The steady beacon fires are three months old.
A word from home is worth a ton of gold.
I scratch my white hair which is grown so thin
It soon won’t let me stick my hat pin in.
In Mandarin Chinese, 念 (Pinyin: niàn🔊) is a word with many meanings. As a verb, it can mean “to miss”, “to long for”, “to think of”, “to recall”, “to consider”, “to contemplate”, “to worry”, “to be anxious about”, “to feel compassion for”, “to show affection for”, “to commemorate”, “to pay tribute to”, as well as “to study”, “to learn”, “to read aloud” or “to chant”. As a noun, it can mean “idea”, “thought” or “memory”.
Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:
As per 今 (contain) + 心 heart/emotions → thought/idea contained deep within the heart (compare 意) → caution (← profound idea).
Once again, Howell mentions the meaning “contain”, this time for 今. However, 今 really means “current”, “now”, “present”. On the other hand, 含, itself a phono-semantic compound of 今 and 口, in addition to its original sense “to keep in the mouth”, can indeed mean “to contain”, “to harbor”, etc. Could it be that 口 “mouth” in 含 simply got replaced with 心 “heart”, so 含 “to keep in the mouth” → 念 “to keep in the heart”?
思 + 念 = 思念 (sīniàn🔊): to miss, to think of, to yearn for, to reminisce
想 + 念 = 想念 (xiǎngniàn🔊): to miss, to think of, to yearn for, to reminisce
念 + 想 = 念想 (niànxiǎng): to miss, to cherish; thought, idea, impression; souvenir, keepsake, memento
念 + 白 = 念白 (niànbái): spoken parts of a Chinese opera
念 + 念 + 不 + 忘 = 念念不忘 (niànniàn bù wàng): to keep in mind constantly; to never forget
念 is a simplified form of a traditional character 念, which is also used in Japanese. As you can see, there is no much difference, apart from the stroke under the “roof” 𠆢.
In Japanese, 念 is pronounced nen (ねん) and means “thought”, “feeling”, “care” or “concern”.
In Mandarin Chinese, 忆 (Pinyin: yì🔊) is a verb “to remember”, “to reminisce”, “to reflect upon” or a noun for “memory”.
忆 is a simplified form of the traditional character 憶. According to Wiktionary, 憶 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 忄, a radical form of 心 “heart”, and phonetic 意 (Pinyin: yì) which also contains 心. So we can say that there are two hearts in 憶. In the simplified form, 意 got replaced by unrelated but similarly-sounding 乙 (yǐ). You may remember that the same story happened with 亿 (← 億).
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
In Mandarin Chinese, 鱼 (Pinyin: yú🔊) is a noun that means “fish”.
鱼 is a simplified form of the traditional character 魚, where the radical 灬 gets replaced by 一. We’ve already seen this kind of simplification in the characters for horse (馬 → 马), bird (鳥 → 鸟) and crow (烏 → 乌).
According to L.J. Howell’s Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters, 魚 is
A depiction of the hard, dried skeleton of a fish.
In Mandarin Chinese, 安 (Pinyin: ān🔊) has many meanings but most of them are related to the concepts of peace and security. It could be an adjective meaning “calm”, “peaceful”, “tranquil”, “quiet”, “comfortable”, “safe”, “secure”, or a verb for “to calm”, “to be content with”, “to place”, “to find a place for”, “to fit”, “to set up”, “to bring”, “to cherish”, “to harbour”. In physics, 安 is short for 安培 (ānpéi), “ampere”.
Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:
宀 roof/building + 女 woman → woman resting/at ease indoors → be at ease/peace → cheap; inexpensive (← cheap enough to be purchased with ease).
The meaning “cheap”, however, is specific for Japanese, where the word 女 (あん; an) has an additional sense in chemistry for “ammonium”. Also, according to Ponte Ryūrui,
The modern form of the hiragana character あ comes from the cursive form of the kanji 安.
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.
In Mandarin Chinese, 新 (Pinyin: xīn🔊) is an adjective that means “new”, “fresh”, “recent”, etc., or a corresponding adverb. It was also the name of short-lived Xin dynasty, 新朝 (Xīncháo).
According to Wiktionary, 新 is a phono-semantic compound of phonetic 亲 “hazelnut tree” and semantic 斤 “axe”:
to cut down a tree with an axe (hence starting something new).
Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters gives a different explanation:
The left-hand element is an abbreviated form of one combining 辛 needle/cutting tool and 木 tree/wood → thornbush (the sharp, needle-like thorns in close proximity). 新 adds 斤 ax → create firewood by chopping a thornbush/tree with a sharp ax. New is an extended meaning (← freshly hewn tree/wood) → recently/lately.
新 + 生 = 新生 (xīnshēng): newborn; recent; to be born again; to be reborn
新 + 人 = 新人 (xīnrén): newly married (couple, wife, husband); new lover; new personality; new talent; newcomer; new person; someone who is making a fresh start; Homo sapiens sapiens
In Mandarin Chinese, 想 (Pinyin: xiǎng🔊) stands for “to think”, “to guess”, “to miss”, “to want”, “to wish for”, “would like”, etc. Thus 我想你 or 我想妳 (wǒ xiǎng nǐ) may mean “I miss you” or “I think about you”, just as is the case with 思. However, there are some subtle differences between the two. For instance, one would use 我想你 (rather than 我思你) to say “I miss you” to a person one is romantically attracted to, perhaps in a hope to hear 我也想你, “I miss you too”.
According to Wiktionary, 想 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 心, “heart/mind”, and phonetic 相 (xiāng🔊) which, in its turn, is an ideogrammic compound of our old friend 木 “tree” and 目 “eye”. So 相 — literally “watching the tree”— is translated as “to see for oneself” or “evaluate”; it also could be used as an adverb meaning “mutually”, “reciprocally”, “towards each other”, “one another”, “together” and suchlike. I, or the folk etymologist in me, would like to think (can I say 我想思?) that 相 brings not just phonetics but also this implicit reciprocity into 想. On the other hand, 思 is more “cerebral” kind of thinking — remember the “fontanel” hypothesis?
The historical forms of 想 show some variation in relative placement of its three components. In contrast to 思, which reminds me of a Viking longship, 想 looks like an oared two-masted sailing vessel, maybe a lancaran.
Sure enough, 思 and 想 can be combined in one word, 思想 (sīxiǎng🔊), “thought” or “idea”. Other compounds of 想 include
In Mandarin Chinese, 蝶 (Pinyin: dié🔊 or
tiě🔊) is a word for butterfly.
According to Wiktionary, 蝶 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 虫 (“insect”) and phonetic 枼 which, in turn, is a compound of 世 and 木. The folk etymologist in me wants to see an insect (i.e. butterfly) flying toward a flower or something, but it seems that the 枼 part is indeed purely phonetic: too many words with completely different meanings that include the radical 枼 are pronounced dié, for example 惵, 喋, 堞, 楪, 揲... On the other hand, Lawrence J. Howell in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters adds a bit more semantics:
枼 is a depiction of three leaves growing from the top of a tree, suggesting slight objects (thin, flat leaves) piled on each other.
There are not too many compounds of 蝶. One of them is 蝴蝶 (húdié🔊) which is another word for butterfly; the 蝴 part is not used on its own.
In Japanese, 蝶 is pronounced chō (🔊). 蝶々さん, Chōchō-san, better known in the West as Cio-Cio-san, is the name of the protagonist of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, where suffix san is a honorific and 蝶蝶, or 蝶々, chōchō, is just a reduplication of 蝶. It still means “butterfly”.
This beautiful haiku by Issa starts and ends with 蝶:
蝶が來て
つれて行きけり
庭の蝶
一茶
Chō ga kite
tsurete yuki keri
niwa no chō
A butterfly came,
And flew off
With a butterfly in the garden.
