Characters 2

认 rèn : (to recognize)
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Graphic components: 讠 speech; 人 rén human.
Etymology : 认 rèn is the simplified form of 認. It is made up of two parts: the speech radical 讠 (a simplification of 言, meaning "speech" or "language"), which indicates a link with communication or cognition, and the phonetic part 忍 rěn, meaning to bear, to tolerate. This component was replaced by 人 rén "human" in the simplified character. These two components express the idea of "recognizing" or "identifying" through speech or knowledge.

识 shí : (to know)
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Graphic components: 讠 speech; 口 mouth; 八 eight.
Etymology : 识 shí or shì means "to know", "to recognize" or "to be aware of". This character is the simplified form of 識. It is made up of the speech radical 讠 (a simplification of 言), indicating a link with communication or knowledge, and the phonetic part 戠 shì (to gather), simplified as 只 zhǐ (only).

高 gāo : to be tall, high

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Graphic components: 亠 lid; 口 mouth; 冂 inverted box.
Etymology : 高 gāo is a pictogram depicting a multi-storey building or tower, symbolizing something tall or high. In ancient inscriptions, the structure resembled a building with a distinctive roof and stacked levels, which visually evokes the idea of height or elevation.

兴 xìng : (interest, enthusiasm)
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Graphic components: ⺍ small (upper variant of 小), 一 one, 八 eight.
Etymology : 兴 xīng or xìng means "to prosper", "to flourish" or "to be enthusiastic". This character is the simplified form of 興. At the top it is made up of two elements 臼 (mortar) which are in fact the stylization of two hands surrounding 同 (together). The two strokes below 八 also represented two hands. Originally, the character evoked the idea of gathering together or lifting something as a group, which evolved into the meaning of prosperity or enthusiasm.

男 nán : man, male

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Graphic components: 田 field; 力 strength.
Etymology : 男 nán is made up of 田 tián (field) and 力 lì (strength). Originally, it represented physical labor in the fields, a role traditionally assigned to men. By extension, it denotes the "male sex".

女 nǚ : girl, woman
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Graphic components: 女 is a graphic component.
Etymology : 女 nǚ is an archaic pictogram depicting a kneeling woman with her hands crossed in front of her, a posture associated with the traditional social roles of women in ancient China. This character symbolizes woman, femininity and, by extension, concepts related to the female gender. It also serves as a component in many characters evoking family relationships or social roles (e.g. 姐 "elder sister", 婚 "marriage").

白 bái : white (it is also a very common surname)
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Graphic components: 白 white.
Etymology : 白 bái is a pictogram that originally depicted a rising sun. It later came to denote the white color of sunlight.

士 shì : scholar, learned person
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Graphic components: 士 is a graphic component.
Etymology : 士 shì is an ideogram. The ancient form depicted an axe planted in the ground, a symbol of the warrior. Later, the meaning evolved to denote a cultivated man, a scholar, and then an honorific title.

先 xiān : first, beforehand
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Graphic components: ⺧ variant of 牛 "livestock"; 儿 son.
Etymology : 先 xiān is made up of two parts: 儿 at the bottom represented a person, and the upper component ⺧ (a simplified form of 牛, meaning "cow" or "cattle"). Originally ⺧ represented a footprint. It was the stylization of the character that gradually brought it closer to the character 牛 (cow). The combination of elements suggests a person moving ahead or standing in front, symbolizing the idea of priority or precedence.

生 shēng : to be born

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Graphic components: 生 is a graphic component.
Etymology : 生 shēng is a pictogram depicting a plant growing out of the ground, symbolizing the idea of growth, life or birth. The lower part represents the earth, while the upper part evokes a shoot emerging from it.

呢 ne : interrogative particle that echoes the question
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Graphic components: 口 mouth; 尼 phonetic component ne / ni.
Etymology : 呢 ne is a phono-semantic compound. It is made up of 口, the mouth, which indicates opening the mouth to speak, and 尼 ne / ní (to be close, intimate), which indicates the sound of this character. 尼 ne / ní represented two people close together.

对 duì : to face, towards (part of the word "sorry" duìbùqǐ)
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Graphic components: 又 right hand; 寸 thumb.
Etymology : 对 duì is an ideogram. This character was simplified. The traditional form 對 depicted a shrub on a clod of earth on the left and a hand on the right. It indicated the action of tending plants well, then their vigorous growth. It was later borrowed to mean "to be correct" and "to face".

起 qǐ : (to raise, to rise), not used alone (part of the word "sorry" duìbùqǐ)
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Graphic components: 走 to walk; 己 jǐ oneself.
Etymology : 起 qǐ is a phono-semantic compound made up of 走 to walk and the phonetic element 己 jǐ. Together, the character evokes the idea of rising or beginning, symbolizing the start of an action or movement.

没 méi : negation of the verb "to have" and of any verb in a past context

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Graphic components: 氵 water; 殳 the spear.
Etymology : 没 méi is an ideogram formed from water 氵 and, in its oldest form, a whirlpool and a hand. It meant "to take an object out of the water". Later, the right-hand part was replaced by 殳 shū, the spear component.

关 guān : to close

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Graphic components: 丷 inverted figure 8; 天 sky.
Etymology : 关 guān is an ideogram. The traditional character 關 is formed from the door 門 and a set of elements representing bolts 幺幺丱. The character evokes the idea of a closed door, then of "closing" in general. It was simplified to 关.

系 xì : (to join, to link), not used alone. It loses its tone in the word 关系 guānxi (link, relationship).
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Graphic components: 丿 oblique stroke; 幺 tiny; 小 small.
Etymology : 系 xì is an ideogram. The ancient character depicted a knotted cord (quipu), and by extension "to tie".

李 lǐ : a surname / (plum)

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Graphic components: 木 wood, tree; 子 child.
Etymology : 李 lǐ is an ideogram made up of two elements. The upper component 木 mù, meaning "wood" or "tree", suggests the character's meaning is related to trees or plants. The lower part 子 zǐ, meaning "child", evokes the "children" of the tree, that is, the fruit. Together, this character originally represented a type of fruit tree, in particular the plum tree, hence the meaning "plum" or "plum tree". 李 is also a very common surname in China.