Traditional characters 6
Learning Chinese: writing the traditional characters of Unit 6
Please choose how the character breakdown is displayed:
兩 : two (used for counting — units of measurement, hours, etc.).
Stroke order:
Components : 一 one (top stroke); 冂 boundary, outline; 入 to enter (present twice inside).
Etymology : 兩 originally represents a pair of identical objects placed side by side: two 入 ("to enter") arranged symmetrically under a common boundary 冂 and topped by a horizontal stroke 一. This character means "two" and is used for pairs or quantities (as opposed to 二 , the abstract digit).
Character evolution :
| Bronze | Seal script | Clerical script | Regular script | Simplified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 两 | 两 | 两 | 两 | 两 |
Stroke order:
Components : 女 woman; 馬 horse. The character combines the idea of a female figure (mother) with the pronunciation "ma" carried by 馬. It evolved to specifically designate the mother, often used affectionately.
Character evolution :
| Oracle bone | Seal script | Clerical script | Traditional | Simplified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 女馬 | 妈 | 妈 | 妈 | 妈 |
個 : general classifier (the most common one for counting people, objects, etc.).
Stroke order:
Components : 亻 person (variant of 人 in compounds); 固 firm, solid (phonetic indicator).
Etymology : 個 is a phono-semantic compound composed of the person radical 亻 on the left and of 固 on the right, which provides the pronunciation. It is the most general classifier (or measure word) in Chinese, used to count a wide variety of nouns: 一個人 "one person", 兩個孩子 "two children". The simplified form 个 keeps only the lower part of 個.
Character evolution :
| Bronze | Seal script | Clerical script | Regular script | Simplified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 个 | 个 | 个 | 个 | 个 |
兒 : son, child; suffix (often softened to in the pronunciation).
Stroke order:
Components : 臼 mortar (here depicting the fontanelle of a newborn, an opening at the top of the skull); 儿 human legs (variant of the person character at the bottom of a compound).
Etymology : 兒 is a pictogram representing a child. The upper part 臼 depicts the opening of the fontanelle on the head of a newborn, and the lower part 儿 represents the legs of a figure. By extension, 兒 means "son, child" and also serves as a suffix in many words, such as 哪兒 "where?".
Character evolution :
| Oracle bone | Bronze | Seal script | Clerical script | Regular script | Simplified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 兒 | 儿 | 儿 | 儿 | 儿 | 儿 |