Pictograms are characters that resemble objects through symbols, images or sketches, like the characters for sun and moon.
The ancient character for sun is an illustration of its round shape.
The short stroke inside indicates that the sun is not hollow. In
contrast, the ancient form for moon is depicts a thin and curved
crescent shape as the moon is more often crescent shaped than full.
Ideograms are signs denoting ideas and abstract concepts. Indicators are added to pictographs to make new meanings, like the characters for foundation and tip.
The character for foundation or roots is created by placing a
horizontal stroke at the bottom of the pictogram for ‘tree’ to indicate the
tree roots. Not only does it mean the foundation of the tree but it also
means the fundamental part or origin generally. Similarly, the ancient
character for the tip or end of the branch is created by adding a stroke
to the upper part of the tree. Not only does it mean the extremity of the
branch but also the final stage generally.
Such characters combine pictograms or ideograms to create a new meaning. For example, the characters for military and trustworthiness.
The character for military combines the characters for ‘halberd’ (a
shafted weapon) and ‘to stop’. The meaning of ‘military’ therefore is to
cease conflict and keep the peace. The character for trustworthiness is
a combination of the characters for ‘person’ and ‘word’, thus trust implies
‘keeping one’s word’.
Characters of this type are composed of at least one pictograph suggesting the general meaning and one phonetic element relating to the sound of the character.
For example, the two characters for two types of rivers 江(jiāng) and
河 (hé). The water radical on the left indicates that both characters have a
semantic connection with water, while the phonetic element is on the right.
These are synonymous characters with similar sound, which are used to mutually interpret each other. For example, 考(kǎo) examination and 老 (lǎo) elderly have associated meanings and sounds because elders have developed analytical and judgement skills.
Existing characters are used to represent an unrelated word with similar or identical pronunciation.
How do you express the concept of west? The character for west was
originally the character for ‘perch’, therefore the ancient form resembles a
bird perched on its nest. As birds generally return to their nests at sunset
when the sun is in the west, this character was adopted as a phonetic
loan to represent the character for west.
Also, the character come was originally the character for ‘wheat’ but was
later a phonetic loan for the verb (to come). Analysing the form of 來: the
central line represents the grain stalk, and the strokes on either side are
the awns. The ancients revered nature and regarded all good things as
coming from Mother Nature.
