Learning Chinese: writing the traditional characters of Unit 6

Please choose how the character breakdown is displayed:

兩 liǎng: two (used for counting: units of measurement, hours, etc.).

Stroke order:

Components: 一 yī one (top stroke); 冂 jiǒng boundary, outline; 入 rù to enter (present twice inside).

Etymology: 兩 liǎng 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 èr, the abstract digit).

Character evolution:

Bronze Seal script Clerical script Regular script Simplified
两 两 两 两 两
媽 mā: (mom)

Stroke order:

Components: 女 woman; 馬 horse.
Etymology: 媽 mā. 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 gè: general classifier (the most common one for counting people, objects, etc.).

Stroke order:

Components: 亻 rén person (variant of 人 in compounds); 固 gù firm, solid (phonetic indicator).

Etymology: 個 gè is a phono-semantic compound composed of the person radical 亻 on the left and of 固 gù on the right, which provides the pronunciation. It is the most general classifier in Chinese, used to count a wide variety of nouns: 一個人 yí gè rén "one person", 兩個孩子 liǎng gè háizi "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 ér: son, child; suffix (often softened to r in the pronunciation).

Stroke order:

Components: 臼 jiù mortar (here depicting the fontanelle of a newborn, an opening at the top of the skull); 儿 rén human legs (variant of the person character at the bottom of a compound).

Etymology: 兒 ér 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 nǎr "where?".

Character evolution:

Oracle bone Bronze Seal script Clerical script Regular script Simplified
兒 儿 儿 儿 儿 儿