Character index
Explications are filed by section: Explications (design readings and essays), The world of Chinese (culture and sound of the script), and character, word, sentence, text, sound by level of language. To find a particular character you can also use the search in the header.
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Common single-unit characters
A single-unit character is made only of strokes according to the principles of formation and cannot be split into other single-unit characters; most come from the two modes and have nothing to do with sound. They are fewer than a tenth of common characters yet are the basic parts of compounds — more than four hundred common characters take 木 as a component. Knowing the common single-unit characters and the rules by which they combine, the rest of the script is not hard. By number of strokes, about 280 characters (from chapter 6 of the book):
| Strokes | Characters |
|---|---|
| 1 strokes | 一、乙 |
| 2 strokes | 二、十、丁、厂、七、卜、八、人、入、乂、儿、九、匕、几、刁、了、乃、刀、力、又、乜 |
| 3 strokes | 三、亍、干、于、士、土、工、才、下、寸、丈、大、兀、与、万、弋、上、小、口、山、巾、丌、千、川、彳、个、么、久、丸、夕、及、广、亡、门、丫、义、之、尸、已、巳、弓、己、卫、孑、子、孓、也、女、飞、刃、习、叉、马、乡、幺 |
| 4 strokes | 丰、王、井、开、夫、天、无、韦、专、丐、廿、木、五、卅、不、太、犬、歹、尤、车、巨、牙、屯、戈、互、瓦、止、少、曰、日、中、贝、内、水、见、手、午、牛、毛、气、壬、升、夭、长、片、币、斤、爪、父、月、氏、勿、欠、丹、乌、卞、文、方、火、为、斗、户、心、尹、尺、夬、丑、爿、巴、办、予、书、毋、亓 |
| 5 strokes | 玉、末、未、示、戋、正、甘、世、本、术、石、龙、戊、平、东、凸、业、目、且、甲、申、电、田、由、央、史、冉、皿、凹、民、弗、出、皮、矛、母、生、失、矢、乍、禾、丘、白、斥、瓜、乎、用、甩、氐、乐、匆、册、鸟、主、立、半、头、必、永 |
| 6 strokes | 耒、耳、亚、臣、吏、再、西、百、而、页、夹、夷、曳、虫、曲、肉、年、朱、缶、乒、乓、臼、自、血、甪、舟、兆、产、亥、羊、米、州、农、聿、艮 |
| 7 strokes | 严、求、甫、更、束、两、酉、豕、来、芈、里、串、我、身、豸、系、羌、良 |
| 8 strokes | 事、雨、果、垂、秉、臾、肃、隶、承 |
| 9 strokes | 柬、面、韭、禺、重、鬼、禹、食、彖 |
| 11 strokes | 象、黄 |
隸 and 承 are also regarded as frame-structured characters. The table reproduces the forms as listed in the book (simplified); some of them are compounds in their traditional form (开 / 開, 丰 / 豐, 广 / 廣), and a traditional-form table will be added once the author has reviewed it.
