Characters 8

爱 ài : love, to love

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Graphic components: 爪 claw; 冖 roof; 友 friendship.
Etymology : 爱 ài is the simplified form of 愛. Its ancient form resembles a person holding a heart, symbolizing love. The traditional character 愛 contained the heart component 心, which disappeared in the simplification — giving rise to the pun that "simplified love is love without a heart."

喜 xǐ : joy, to like
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Graphic components: 士 the scholar; 口 the mouth; 丷 the inverted eight; 一 the number one.
Etymology : 喜 xǐ is composed of 壴 zhù (drum) and 口 kǒu (mouth). Originally, it represented the joyful sound of a drum during celebrations. By extension, it took on the meanings of "joy," "to rejoice," or "to be fond of something."

欢 huān : joy, gladness

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Graphic components: 又 hand; 欠 to lack (a man with his mouth open).
Etymology : 欢 huān is the simplified form of 歡. Originally, it was a phono-semantic compound whose phonetic component was 雚 guàn (stork or heron). It represented the joyful expression. By extension, it means "joy," "gladness," or "pleasure."

漂 piào : (pretty), not used on its own

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Graphic components: 氵 water; 票 piào note, ticket.
Etymology : 漂 piào is a phono-semantic compound made up of water 氵 and the phonetic component 票 piào. The original meaning was "to float on water." The meaning of "pretty, beautiful" is a phonetic borrowing.

亮 liàng : bright, shining

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Graphic components: 亠 lid; 口 mouth; 冖 roof; 几 table.
Etymology : 亮 liàng is an ideogram. Its ancient form represented a standing man with a flame above his head, symbolizing light. The upper component 亠 and 口 evoke the light source, while the lower part 几 originally represented a man's legs.

玩 wán : to play, to have fun

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Graphic components: 王 wáng king/jade; 元 yuán origin.
Etymology : 玩 wán is composed of the radical 玉 yù (jade, precious stone) and the phonetic 元 yuán. Originally, it evoked the idea of handling precious objects. By extension, it took on the meanings of "to play," "to have fun," or "to appreciate a work of art."

猫 māo : cat

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Graphic components: 犭 animal; 苗 miáo plant, sprout.
Etymology : 猫 māo is a phono-semantic compound made up of the animal radical 犭 (variant of 犬, the dog) and the phonetic component 苗 miáo. The radical indicates that it is an animal, and the sound miáo recalls the cat's meow. The traditional character is 貓, with the radical 豸 (wild animal).

狗 gǒu : dog

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Graphic components: 犭 animal; 句 jù sentence.
Etymology : 狗 gǒu is a phono-semantic compound made up of the animal radical 犭 (variant of 犬 quǎn, the dog) and the phonetic component 句 gōu. The radical indicates that it is an animal, while 句 gives the indication of the sound. Originally, 犬 referred to the dog in general, while 狗 referred rather to the puppy. Today, 狗 is the common word for "dog."

它 tā : it (for animals and objects)

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Graphic components: 宀 roof; the rest represented a snake.
Etymology : 它 tā is an ancient pictogram of the snake. In the oracle bone inscriptions, it clearly depicted a coiled snake. Later, this character was borrowed phonetically as the third-person pronoun for animals and objects. It is from 它 that were created 他 (he, for men, with the human radical 亻) and 她 (she, for women, with the woman radical 女).

只 zhī : measure word for small animals; zhǐ : only
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Graphic components: 口 mouth; 八 eight.
Etymology : 只 is a character with a dual origin. In the sense of "only" (zhǐ), it is composed of the mouth 口 and 八, symbolizing a light breath — hence the idea of "nothing but." In the sense of a measure word for small animals (zhī), it is the simplification of 隻, which was composed of a bird 隹 zhuī held in a hand 又 — a single bird caught, hence the idea of counting animals one by one.

点 diǎn : dot, a little

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Graphic components: 卜 divination; 口 mouth; 灬 fire (lower variant).
Etymology : 点 diǎn is the simplified form of the traditional character 點. Originally, 點 combined the character 黑 (hēi, "black") with 占 (zhàn, to occupy), referring to the soot marks around a hearth. This character now refers to a dot, a moment or the action oflighting.

了 le : modal particle indicating that the situation is new (change of state). See the grammar.

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Etymology : 了 le/liǎo is an archaic pictogram representing a person with folded limbs, symbolizing the idea ofcompletion or transformation. This character now serves as an aspect particle (e.g. 吃了, "to have eaten") or as a verb meaning "to understand" (e.g. 了解).

校 xiào : (school)

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Graphic components: 木 tree; 交 jiāo to cross.
Etymology : 校 xiào is a phono-semantic compound made up of 木 (tree) and the phonetic element 交 jiāo (to cross). Originally, it referred to an assembly of wood (such as a fence or a frame), then evolved to symbolize a place of education (学校, "school").

新 xīn : new

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Graphic components: 木 tree; 辛 spicy; 斤 axe.
Etymology : 新 xīn is composed of the axe 斤 jīn and a phonetic-semantic compound formed from the pungent 辛 xīn (which indicates the pronunciation) and the tree 木 mù (which indicates the wood). Originally, it represented theaction of cutting wood, hence the meaning of "fresh wood" then "new."

雨 yǔ : rain

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雨 is a graphic component.
Etymology : 雨 yǔ is a pictogram representing raindrops falling from a cloud. The upper horizontal bar symbolizes the sky, while the dots or vertical strokes represent the precipitation.

北 běi : the north

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Graphic components: 匕 spoon; the other element is not considered a graphic component.
Etymology : 北 běi is an ancient pictogram representing two people 人 back to back. Originally, this character symbolized the back or the action of opposing, then acquired the meaning of north in reference to the orientation of Chinese palaces (back turned to the north, facing south).

京 jīng : capital

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Graphic components: 亠 lid; 口 mouth; 小 small.
Etymology : 京 jīng is an ancient pictogram representing a tower or an imposing building (represented by stacked layers). It now refers to the capital.