The Six Principles of Chinese Characters
Learn Chinese
Feb 12 • 760 read
Liushu (六书) are the 6 core principles for analyzing Chinese character structure and usage. Learning them helps you easily understand how Chinese characters are made and used, with simple examples.
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What are the Six Scripts?
The Liùshū (六书, “Six Writings/Scripts”) are six categories that ancient Chinese scholars summarized to analyze the structure and usage of Chinese characters.
Important point: The six principles were not invented first as rules for people to create characters. Instead, they are a later system of classification to explain how characters already worked.
Among the six:
Four are about how characters are formed (construction): 象形, 指事, 会意, 形声 (Xiàngxíng, Zhǐshì, Huìyì, Xíngshēng)
Two are about how characters are used (application): 转注, 假借 (Zhuǎnzhù, Jiǎjiè) Characters can also be divided into:
- Single‐form characters (独体字): formed from one single image
- Compound characters (合体字): formed by combining two or more parts
Detailed Introduction to Each of the Six Scripts
Part 1: Ways to Make Characters (4 Types)
This part introduces the four ways ancient Chinese people created Chinese characters, which are divided into two categories: single characters and compound characters.
Single Characters (独体字)
Single characters are composed of only one part, usually a simple picture or symbol, which is easy to recognize and remember.
| Type (Pinyin) | English Name | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 象形 (Xiàngxíng) | Pictograph | Draws the shape of an object directly, just like a simple drawing of the thing it represents. | 日 (sun), 月 (moon), 山 (mountain), 水 (water) |
| 指事 (Zhǐshì) | Indicative | Shows an idea with simple marks or symbols, used for abstract concepts that are hard to draw. | 上 (up), 下 (down), 一 (one), 刃 (blade: a dot marks the sharp part of 刀 “knife”) |
Compound Characters (合体字)
Compound characters are made by combining two or more parts. Their meanings or pronunciations are related to the combined parts, which is the most common way to create characters later.
| Type (Pinyin) | English Name | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 会意 (Huìyì) | Compound Meaning | Combines the meanings of two or more characters to form a new meaning. The new meaning is related to the original meanings of the parts. | 休 = 人 (person) + 木 (tree) → rest (a person leaning against a tree to rest); 明 = 日 (sun) + 月 (moon) → bright (sun and moon together make light) |
| 形声 (Xíngshēng) | Meaning + Sound | It has two parts: one part (radical) indicates the meaning category, and the other part gives a hint of the pronunciation. Most modern Chinese characters are of this type. | 妈 = 女 (woman, meaning category) + 马 (mǎ, sound hint) → mā (mother); 河 = 氵(water, meaning category) + 可 (kě, sound hint) → hé (river) |
Part 2: Ways to Use Characters (2 Types)
| Type (Pinyin) | English Name | Explanation | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 转注 (Zhuǎnzhù) | Mutual Explanation | Similar meanings; explain each other | 老 & 考 → both mean "old" |
| 假借 (Jiǎjiè) | Phonetic Borrowing | Borrow a character for its sound (not original meaning) | 来 → originally "wheat" → now "come" |
Summary in Short
- Only the first four create new character shapes: 象形 (picture), 指事 (symbol), 会意 (meaning combination), 形声 (meaning + sound)
- The last two are ways of using characters: 转注 (mutual explanation), 假借 (sound borrowing)
- 象形 and 指事 = single‐form characters
- 会意 and 形声 = compound characters
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