{"id":4536,"date":"2019-11-18T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-wordsvocabulary\/fun-chinese-characters-stack-them-up-in-multi-dimensional-thinking\/"},"modified":"2019-11-18T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:32:09","slug":"fun-chinese-characters-stack-them-up-in-multi-dimensional-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/fun-chinese-characters-stack-them-up-in-multi-dimensional-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Chinese characters \u2013 stack them up in multi-dimensional thinking!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chinese characters are like<\/span> mini pictures. You can also think them as legos. If you’re good at stacking legos, you’ll be good at Chinese…. just kidding. However, memorizing Chinese characters does train you with multi-dimensio<\/em>nal thinking. <\/p>\n

In this post I’d like to stack up some character legos with you and hopefully you’ll learn a few new characters after this fun exercise.<\/p>\n

The first lego piece we’ll use is <\/wbr>\u6728 mù<\/span><\/strong> (wood), which takes the shape of a tree. If we plant two <\/wbr>\u6728 mù<\/strong><\/span> together, we got a bush <\/wbr>\u6797 lín<\/strong><\/span>. If we add one more <\/wbr>\u6728 mù<\/strong><\/span> to the mix, then we got the forest<\/span> <\/wbr>\u68ee s\u0113n<\/strong><\/span>! As a matter of fact, the word <\/wbr>\u68ee\u6797 s\u0113nlín<\/strong><\/span> exactly means “forest” – see how many trees we have in that combination<\/span>?<\/p>\n

”Fun<\/wbr>\u53e3 k\u01d2u<\/strong><\/span> (mouth). If you put two two pieces together, it become <\/wbr>\u5415l\u01da<\/span><\/strong>, which is mostly used for last name. What a<\/em>bout you stack three of them all together? Then you’ll get a character like this: <\/wbr>\u54c1 p\u01d0n<\/strong><\/span>, which means “quality”. But why? Well, if so many people are talking (with their mouth) a<\/em>bout a thing or a person in a good way, then the “quality” is guaranteed, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

”Fun<\/wbr>\u4eba rén<\/strong><\/span> (people). If we line two pieces up, then we got this one: <\/wbr>\u4ece cóng<\/strong><\/span>, it means “from”. Just imagine the first “person” is the second “person’s” previous position, which tells you wher the second person shifted “from”. That will explain why “two persons” means “from”. Now we stack all three pieces up, you’ll see the character of <\/wbr>\u4f17<\/strong> zhòng<\/strong><\/span> (crowd). Isn’t it obvious? The same rule applied to the transformation from <\/wbr>\u6728<\/span><\/strong> to <\/wbr>\u68ee<\/span><\/strong> applies to <\/wbr>\u4eba<\/strong><\/span> to <\/wbr>\u4f17<\/strong><\/span> !<\/p>\n

”Fun<\/wbr>\u77f3 shí<\/strong><\/span> (stone), when we stack up three pieces of it, becomes <\/wbr>\u78ca l\u011bi<\/strong><\/span>, which means “open and upright”. That’s the desired image of<\/span> a man in Chinese culture. That meaning is getting more explicit in idiom <\/wbr>\u5149\u660e\u78ca\u843d<\/strong><\/span> gu\u0101ngmíngl\u011biluò<\/span><\/strong> (straightforward and upright). People also like to use  <\/wbr>\u78ca l\u011bi<\/strong><\/span> as a boy’s first name.<\/p>\n

Now let’s use another element character <\/wbr>\u65e5 rì<\/span><\/strong> (sun) to do our stacking game. Wait a minute, what is the most dominant characteristics of the sun? “Shining!” Of course! What if we stack three suns together like this: <\/wbr>\u6676<\/span> j\u012bng<\/span><\/strong>? Doesn’t it remind you of a sparkling diamond that reflects various colors of light? Here is an example using this character: <\/wbr>\u4eae<\/wbr>\u6676\u6676 liàng j\u012bngj\u012bng<\/strong><\/span> (shining and sparkling).<\/p>\n

”Fun<\/wbr>\u6c34 shu\u01d0<\/strong><\/span> to <\/wbr>\u6dfc mi\u01ceo<\/strong><\/span>,  <\/wbr>\u91d1 j\u012bn<\/span><\/strong> to <\/wbr>\u946b x\u012bn<\/strong><\/span> etc.<\/p>\n

Do you know any character of this kind?  Feel free to share them here, thanks!<\/p>\n

Good night, my friends!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Update<\/span><\/strong>: The following are probably all the “mo<\/em>nster characters” of this kind in Chinese. Most of them are obsolete. o<\/em>nly a few are still used in traditio<\/em>nal Chinese or Japanese. (“<\/wbr>\u5349” is used in simplified Chinese too.) I highlighted the o<\/em>nes that I can recognize by myself (with simplified Chinese background). o<\/em>nly four :-(.<\/p>\n

<\/wbr>\u579a <\/wbr>\u7131 <\/wbr>\u9750  <\/wbr>\u5349<\/span> <\/wbr>\u8294 <\/wbr>\u8f5f<\/span> <\/wbr>\u757e <\/wbr>\u53bd <\/wbr>\u99ab <\/wbr>\u98cd <\/wbr>\u7065 <\/wbr>\u53b5 <\/wbr>\u7287 <\/wbr>\u730b <\/wbr>\u8d51 <\/wbr>\u8d14 <\/wbr>\u87f2 <\/wbr>\u9ea4 <\/wbr>\u6bf3 <\/wbr>\u9f98 <\/wbr>\u9a89 <\/wbr>\u9a6b <\/wbr>\u7fb4 <\/wbr>\u96e5 <\/wbr>\u9c7b <\/wbr>\u77d7 <\/wbr>\u59e6<\/span> <\/wbr>\u8219 <\/wbr>\u7790 <\/wbr>\u8076<\/span>  <\/wbr>\u63b1 <\/wbr>\u53d2 <\/wbr>\u60e2 <\/wbr>\u8b76 <\/wbr>\u52a6 <\/wbr>\u58f5  <\/wbr>\u5b68 <\/wbr>\u6b6e <\/wbr>\u667f <\/wbr>\u98dd <\/wbr>\u5215 <\/wbr>\u5c1b <\/wbr>\u569e <\/wbr>\u769b <\/wbr>\u96e6<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n