Mere China Language   

Chinese Language Lessons 3: 

More Chinese Words That Also Pictures

As we noted previously, the earliest Chinese scripts appeared as little pictures depicting actual objects. for the Sun, for the horse, and so on. Soon came the time, of course, when ancient Chinese felt the need to describe matters other than actual objects in the world ?some abstract concepts or ideas, for instance. The initial response by the Chinese was to take some pictographs that they’d already developed and put them together to make composite words that would meet their new needs. It was thus that they combined the pictographs (the Sun) and (the Moon) and made the word ming, which indicates “light?or “brightness.?

And here are more examples:

    Morning.     As you can see, the Sun has just risen above the horizon.    Modern Chinese: Dan

    East.     The sun, as it rises in the morning, is seen through some trees. (This is true with sunset in the west too, of course, but, hey, isn’t sunrise a far more appealing idea than sunset?)    Modern Chinese: dong

    Man.     Plough in the field. Need we say more? So quit complaining, guys, work is your lot in life.    Modern Chinese: nan

Mere China Language