Pictographs are characters that were originally drawing of objects. For example, the pictograph for is shaped like a crescent moon. The pictograph looks like the profile of a tortoise with four legs and a shell. Chinese characters have changed their shape considerably over the course of the centuries, becoming much squarer in form. Look at the transformation of the pictograph into the modern form.
Roughly about 600 characters are pictographs. It’s true that some Chinese characters have evolved from pictures, but theses comprise only a small proportion of the characters.
Generally speaking, pictographs can be divided into four kinds: the anatomical (body parts and people), the geographical (things in the natural world), the living (animals and plants), and the inanimate (objects). The following are examples of each category.
Ideographs are graphical representations of abstract ideas, such as 一 (one) and 二 (two). Ideographs can be made in two ways. The first way is to portray abstract concepts through symbols only. The other way ideographs are formed is to add an abstract symbol to a pictograph.
Portray Abstract Concepts Through Symbols Only
Examples:drawing a line to show position, then making a shorter stroke above the longer line to show “up”: 上; or one below to show “down”: 下.
The character 大 shows a man with his arms and legs spread open wide to mean “big.”
A man with his arms down and his legs together becomes 小, meaning “small.”
Add an Abstract Symbol to a Pictograph
Examples: The word 刃 (blade) was formed by adding an abstract dot to the pictograph 刀(knife) to show the sharpest point of a knife.
The ancient Chinese added an abstract sign to the pictograph of a man with his arms and legs spread open wide to form 天 to refer to the sky above our heads.
With the development of Chinese civilization, thoughts and ideas that needed to be conveyed became more complex. Thus, when the time came that pictographs and ideographs were not enough, a new type of character appeared that combined the meaning of two or more elements to form a new meaning.
For example, the character 日 and the character 月 were put together to from the character 明, which means “bright.”
Below you will see some examples of these combinations.
Pictograph 1 Pictograph 2 Ideograph
人 (people) + 木 (mood) = 休 (to rest)
女 (female) + 子 (male) = 好 (good)
少 (few/lack) + 力 (strength) = 劣 (inferior)
心 (heart) + 中 (middle) = 忠 (loyalty)
手 (hand) + 目 (eye) = 看 (to look/see)
Characters can also consist of a radical indicator and a phonetic indicator. Radicals represent a word’s meaning or type; for example, words with the radial 女 often have to do with females. The phonetic element gives a word its sound; for example, words containing 马 often sound similar to it – such as 吗, 妈, 码 or 骂. 90% of Chinese characters are derived in this way.
Look at following examples:
Back in the day when there were more words to speak than characters to express them, people would borrow an established character to write a word with a similar sound.
For example, once there were two versions of the character for scorpion. One of them, showing the head, tail, and claws, was pronounced chái; another showing the head, tail, claws, and legs, was pronounced wàn. But wàn also meant “ten thousand” but had no written equivalent.
The character for (scorpion) was borrowed – claws, head, legs and all – to express “ten thousand” and has now metamorphosed into the modern character for “ten thousand” (万, wàn).
Look at following examples:
1. Match the pictograph with the characters. Write your answers on your notes.
2. Guess the meaning of the character based on the hints provided for you. Write your answers on your notes.
旦 Hint: This word came from the pictograph 日, meaning “sun”; the bottom line represents the horizon.
本 Hint: This word came from the pictograph 木, meaning “wood”; the line added to the bottom represents a location.
末 Hint: This word also came from the pictograph 木, meaning “wood”; the line added to the top represents a location.
凶 Hint: 凵represents a hole, and the middle part refers to a mark where the trap is.
3. Guess the meaning of the characters based on the meanings of pictographs and ideographs. Write your answers on your notes.
Pictograph 1 Pictograph 2 Ideograph
木 (wood) + 木 (wood) = 林 (?)
人 (people) + 口 (enclosure) = 囚 (?)
人 (people) + 言 (speech/words)= 信 (?)
亡 (die) + 目 (eye) = 盲 (?)
4. Select the letter of the correct meaning of new words. Write your answers on your notes.
Radicals Phonetic Combinations
草 (grass) + 曼 (màn) = 蔓
水 (water) + 曼 (màn) = 漫
鱼 (fish) + 曼 (màn) = 鳗
心 (heart) + 曼 (màn) = 慢
A. Overflow B. Eel C. Slow D. Trailing plant
5. Which formation derived 90% of Chinese characters?
A. Pictograph
B. Ideograph
C. Combination of pictograph and ideograph
D. Combination of radicals and phonetics
1.
2.
旦 Means morning; dawn; daybreak
本 Means roots or stems of plants; origin; source
末 Means tip; end; final stage
凶 Means evil; bad luck; fierce
3.
Pictograph 1 Pictograph 2 Ideograph
木 (wood) + 木 (wood) = 林 (forest)
人 (people) + 口 (enclosure) = 囚 (to imprison)
人 (people) + 言 (speech/words)= 信 (to trust/ believe)
亡 (die) + 目 (eye) = 盲 (blind)
4.
Radicals Phonetic Combinations
草 (grass) + 曼 (màn) = 蔓 D
水 (water) + 曼 (màn) = 漫 A
鱼 (fish) + 曼 (màn) = 鳗 B
心 (heart) + 曼 (màn) = 慢 C
A. Overflow B. Eel C. Slow D. Trailing plant
5. D
