Meanings of Chinese Characters - Key Components (Part 1)

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[@spiritualflame4]

You have no idea how helpful this is to me. Just last night I was trying to find resources on radicals and figuring out Chinese characters and couldn't find anything. This is a life saver, and an eye opener. I'm putting these notes in my book right now! Also, I think my listening practice is starting to work, for it was easier for me to recognize the tones of the words you said, and what the pinyin might have been. Thanks so much for this Chris! ^~^

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+Jeoffrey Robinson That's great to hear! Part 2 of this series is out already, and I'll be putting part 3 out tomorrow. Then you'll have the complete guide!

[@jwyldeck]

+Fluent in Mandarin This is really good. Olle Linge talks a lot about this but doesn't give all the examples you do so now I can put my knowledge to more use. I never knew 月 changed meaning when it is a radical!

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+Jack Wyldeck Thanks Jack! Just to make the point about 月 clear. When it appears as a radical/component, it can sometimes mean moon, like in 明 (sun+moon=bright), but it can also mean meat or flesh, in which case it is an evolved version of 肉 (the character for meat/flesh). The end result looks the same, but it comes from a different origin. Hope I explained that clearly.

[@jwyldeck]

Ah ok thanks

[@CantoMando]

This was really helpful :) Like the fact that you have the examples

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Thanks !

[@skydrummer1366]

I’ve been waiting for a video like this. You’ve read my mind

[@believeinpeace]

Spectacular! Just what I’ve been looking for. Thank you so very much!

[@stephengoh5456]

Fantastic! Super helpful! Love it. Thank you.

[@Alavyon]

One of the most clear and detailed video ever seen about chinese. I think this is one of the big keys to learn chinese I will set a section on Pleco about this. xiè xiè. Thanks a lot!

[@ezrabrooks4844]

Thank you, I spent couple hours re watching this and now I know how to write & pronounce it all in this video very helpful.

[@bills48321]

I like his brisk rate of speech, it helps to keep it interesting.

[@nadineleboeuf3046]

This video was super helpful! Thank you for making this.

[@Diamond18116]

He is fantastic so clear and it will help a lot of American or European students to learn from this teacher because every detail is clearly stated.

[@kieuhang7818]

thank you so much, this chanel is really useful, easy to understand and i really like your voices. 我找一个学习汉语的好方法很久了。很高兴来到这。谢谢！

[@sliiiin]

Really good content. Thanks!

[@poopet]

Thank you for this video Chris and for your clear explanations. I had always thought the four marks under a character was a variation on the water radical, rather than fire, so it's good that you've cleared that up. Looking forward to future videos getting into the nitty gritty of the language!

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+poopet Glad things are starting to get clearer for you! More videos coming very soon...

[@inglesyeses]

谢谢老师. Great video!!

[@212nangkeinngurn]

Thanks a lot This is very helpful for me😊😊😊

[@juliawinsa4260]

This is great. Thank you so much. What would even make it truly excellent is if it was added the pinyin in writing as well.

[@davidhandel5894]

Yass! Finally sth that works best (for me.) Thanks for sharing. do share more, please

[@heatherbwallace6250]

Thank you very much! Perception and Mind guidance is critical, this was an essential video that will help me to 'pick up' on characters. Duo xie! !!!!

[@MonkeyDLuffy-xr4fl]

Best video so far. Thanks!

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Glad you like it!

[@josefinlido3833]

Thank you for making these videos really helpful!

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

You're welcome!

[@pauldorra4730]

Thank you for these very well made videos! I have understood much more. After watching the next missing piece in my understanding was how different signs make up a new meaning together.

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

You're welcome Paul. I've got a few other videos explaining how characters are put together as well. You might want to check them out as well.

[@oldsachem]

Useful for beginners.

[@ngozieze6576]

Thank you!

[@robertarisz8464]

When starting to learn Chinese characters, you should absolutely start with the radicals. Begin with the 50 most commonly used one. These are all characters on their own and very good ones to know. But more importantly, it makes learning other characters so much faster. This video is pure gold - 100% recommend it!

[@stevesewful]

You are a fantastic teacher.Thank you for all your hard work in preparing these lessons.Amazing!Take good care.

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+Steve G Thanks Steve! More videos like this coming!

[@yammypatchayateerawatsakul818]

Hi Chris! I came across one of your videos by chance, probably an hour ago and since then I just couldn't stop watching and obviously taking loads of notes. So, just a short message to "xiexie ni" for these fantastic educational videos. I really love how structured they are and the way my brain can link up to your lessons. I have also already subscribed and promised to myself to come back and watch more lessons, hopefully bit by bit everyday. It is also great that you speak pretty fast. This really saves a lot of time which also means people can spend the same amount of their time in life with your videos and get double or even triple of knowledge! :)

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

You're welcome Yammy. Glad you've got a lot from the videos, and thanks for subscribing as well

[@KillerTacos54]

Thank you!! Omg this was an amazing video

[@dumalun8388]

Thisis really good. I mean really, really good.

[@hildecarvalho]

thank you so much

[@didsrainfall900]

So helpful!! Thank you very much for your effort :)

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

You're welcome!

[@dp6046]

its never a bad thing to learn.. for benifit or doubt.. it always a value in any situation

[@kathrin_haarstick]

Great! 🙏🏻

[@jamhandwich1291]

Thank you! very helpful

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+Jam Handwich Thanks Jam!

[@sobanosilva8585]

Nice video to consider in training English speakers

[@Anna-rs1no]

i know i'm late but thank you for this video 🙏🙏

[@davidhandel5894]

it would be cool to have the transcription of the pronunciation for the sake of tones comprehension.. and explaining the characters in parenthesis (alternative writing?) at the top of the slides would be awesome too. ty for sharing

[@taantran1996]

there are no words to describe how much im grateful for your help, i appreciate it

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

I will do, and thanks for your comment !

[@Tomy_Yon]

I learned all 214 radicals first and it helps tons to understand new characters.

[@YJSP893]

As a Chinese speaker I would say this video is great.

[@smartlead]

Great video, wish you could have added Pinyin next to the characters

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Sure, I'll do that next time

[@aochengi]

I watch this to learn English, great haha

[@stevenpaulniles]

Another great video by Fluent in Mandarin. Thank you! I am just wondering, where can we find some information on the types of characters associated with each radical. I love the idea that most or all characters with the radical 口 relate to the mouth or to openings of some sort. Now, is that sort of information available for all 214 radicals? I'm looking for a thorough compendium of themes that go with all the radicals.

[@doonspades6096]

Ty my guys this helped me to find my friend in a game with a chinese name:>

[@GothicKin]

Unintentional pun 1:58: "看(kan) see, so you kan see" 😂

[@sketchuyu7298]

So complex its hard but this makes it a bit easier

[@elliewong162]

This is just what I wanted and need...the word for hear is ear in a door...I am doing the 214 radicals but some are much easier...I can skip ahead here and do logical groups....

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Haha,

[@fudgecupcakes12]

Now this is epic.

[@DrEagleTalon]

Really wish the pinyin was shown next to the characters. Im still learning tones. But otherwise still watched the entire video and loved it

[@limedwardster]

Using 3 fingers to draw 彡 to write 手丟拿看 春须 丰(富) 參(加) 训 毛衣 修改, 家 豹爪抓，汤 Look at 二add | ..to form 牛(cow) add 一 form三 to expand into other words. 开 ，关， 羊 美 住using handphone software, as long write 70% similar word will appear

[@limedwardster]

Learn Chinese character, remember in group eg Using 人‘ to form many character add 一 to 人 became 大 Add 二 to 人 became天 . Add two dots to 大 became头....买卖 灾火🔥火灭灾火土 太犬 头 write using two u, u and add l, 出 凹 巾帼 离 山 巨 叵 匠 臣 尺层.using handphone software, as long write 70% similar word will appear

[@g-li]

Thank you so much, laoshi. Could you please consider adding piyin? Thank you. 🙏

[@giselleriou3003]

Very well explained but I wish you also had the pinjin of the Chinese characters (I'm a beginner!).

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Ok I will try to add more pinyin to future videos

[@Adi-xs5dw]

Yes please!

[@rogernichols1124]

@@FluentinMandarinDotCom This is a brilliant teaching /learning resource. I'm a very new beginner and the material on radicals is a very good way into writing Mandarin.

[@imanshirali5169]

thank you very much for your priceless information there is little but here if you would add pinyin in front of words it could be very mush helpful.

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Thanks, I'll add pinyin to my new videos

[@ColinPlayzPianoC418Music]

好 also has the women symbol

[@mrramdom4406]

月is moon or month

[@veryredfumoze]

Does this work with kanji

[@rudymalinontmakassar7511]

pls mention pin yin,

[@evilfellow100]

hello，記得第3:00時候，這些字的部首應該是"肉"字旁唷，不是"月"。看看這個。 www.cns11643.gov.tw/AIDB/query_general_view.do?page=1&code=7525

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

+王瀚鈞 好的

[@ColinPlayzPianoC418Music]

Isn't the component for movement or travling in zhe (這）does that radical have anything to do with the meaning of 這

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

It doesn't really have a direct connection. The etymology of some of these characters is there for historical reasons. Either the character meant something else originally and its meaning gradually changed, or it was borrowed for a different word because it had the same sound. Difficult to explain.

[@Apollys]

When I think of 耳, the first word that comes to mind is 聊天 (if you are chatting with someone, *hopefully* you are listening to what the other person says!)

[@jovelynclarissa8705]

im chinese and i just need to find a radical of dao (knife) with the hanzi

[@maumimausy8801]

社是示字旁，不是提土旁。

[@brendasaller]

I would prefer this video with the pinying written aside the words..

[@AeonHorus]

Excellent my friend but pinyin alongside would have been really helpful.

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Thanks. I'll add Pinyin to all my newly posted videos

[@AeonHorus]

Kool man ... I'll subscribe then ;)

[@spiderjump]

why does adding a little swipe on 日 = white?

[@somno6878]

He actually made a mistake there. 日 and 白 are two characters that have no relationship with each other in their forms, but clearly the character meaning of white has relation with that of sun in Chinese. As we date back to around 1400 BC, the hieroglyphic for these two characters are completely different. 日 the sun means the centre or the eye of the sky, so the image is like a dot at the centre of a circle; and 白 white refers to the light emitted by sun, but there is not a 'sun' in the image, instead, the image represents an object that emits light up and down, and the bottom light is flat while the upper part is sharp and the sharp bit transformed into that swipe on 白 when time passed by. There was a long history of font evolution of characters and the shapes and forms of them did changed a lot. The print font that you used is called Song, and coincidentally white and sun have a part that is exactly the same. However, there are many other examples of characters that when you add a dot or a swipe onto it, you'll get a new one with related meanings. For instance, by adding a dot to emphasis the blade part of 刀 knife you'll get 刄 blade; and by adding a line on the root part of 木 tree you'll get 本 root or book. I can do nearly all fonts of Chinese characters including 'Jiaguwen', 'Jinwen', 'Shiguwen', 'Dazhuan', 'Xiaozhuan', 'Chongniaozhuan', 'Li', 'Cao', 'Xing', 'Kai', 'Song' and 'Edomoji'.

[@jiddah4726]

Ooh ... it's my mistake. I turn on the English caption ..

[@zhongguoren3787]

还过道

[@ola3100]

mouth or opening character is a box...... I don't see that character in eat or call, the character looks like rectangle. help???

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

The radical 口 is not really a rectangle. In 吃 and 叫 it's on the left hand side.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

路 起 快 机 谢谢老师

[@gillsladdin6868]

I've heard that there are thousands of characters in Chinese --- if you come across one that you've never seen before , how do you work out what it means , when the components can have so many meanings ?

[@eugeniamughrabi2743]

Can you please write the pinyin

[@nevilleedwards3237]

Add pinyin next to characters, please

[@muhammadashshiddieqi8653]

Cekit

[@spiderjump]

why 松 can mean pine and mean loose as well??

[@somno6878]

If you want to learn more about the origin of the meaning or the character itself, I recommend you a book named 'Shuo Wen Jie Zi', literally 'Word and Expression'. Although there are a number of mistakes in this book, it can surely give you a very technical overview on Chinese characters. And pls don't forget Chinese characters have a history of almost 4000 years, it is undoubtedly that there were some new or extended meanings added to characters. When you master this language and merge yourself into the Chinese Internet, you will discover that there are thousands of newly occurred network vocab and slang and memes. Only can you be used to this new world when you master hundreds of those 'weird and alien words'.

[@shanjiming]

because 鬆 which means loose in traditional chinese has been simplified to 松 in simplified chinese. in traditional chinese writing system, loose is written as 鬆。here 髟 refers to hair, giving a hint of its meaning, and 松 tells you how to pronounce it. simplifying chinese writing system has caused much confusion, such as this one. other examples： 麺-->面，and 髪-->发 etc

[@aidenbernal6611]

Is there a difference between speaking mandarin and speaking traditional Chinese?

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Traditional Chinese refers to traditional Chinese characters, not a spoken dialect. Mandarin refers to the spoken and written language.

[@zhidongdeng1236]

'traditional Chinese' is an old style in writing, it has nothing to with speaking.

[@davidhandel5894]

now. this requires a whole slew of attention to detail. lol

[@user-bk3vl5ky1b]

hey 土 is not the radical for 社. The radical for 社 is its left part, it is about god 神.

[@user-oy9py6is3v]

actually, 枪 means spear.

[@larrysaul3795]

that's true. but now it means gun

[@girishbp6349]

What is radicals

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Radicals are the parts of the character that normally indicate the rough meaning, such as 木 tree in 梅

[@girishbp6349]

How to identify radicals and pronounce clue

[@girishbp6349]

Thanks for reply

[@ahjit7283]

Short cut learning. I takek1 year.现在的科技可以画字。 加一些笔画变成新字。 囗 ( ) 口( )口( )囗( )口 答案在下面， 口，回，中 ，四，日，西，，品，吃，舌，台，哈哈 唱

[@owantouw7845]

No Pinyin ?

[@ashokkumargandhi7144]

Mandarin pronunciation should also be written again the character.

[@BloxyColaD]

I surprised an thing and losed 🤫 he eat the thing

[@luizychoe5018]

this video will become perfect if theres a pinyin

[@gigichenoweth3589]

Extremely helpful for learning most common and important components. Only drawback is that there is no pinyin. Although characters shown and spoken word given, it would have been perfect if pinyin included for us students who are at reading, listening level used here. That's why didn't leave a like.

[@johnroekoek12345]

8.49 Alcohol... and loads more

[@FluentinMandarinDotCom]

Haha

[@Lovableshapes67]

Xie-xie.

[@jiddah4726]

The English subtitles made the characters couldn't be seen ...😧

[@syedmdabid7191]

Mandarin ain't exact understanding. It is symbolic pictograph.

[@nikred280]

tai youyong!!!!!!!!!!!!xie xie!

[@muhammadashshiddieqi8653]

Les d lbbbsc cek