The magic of learning Chinese characters is the story that is told to denote the meaning of each one. Some stories hold more validity than others. For instance, I remember my teacher telling our class that the word for 'beautiful 美' derived from 'big 大' + 'sheep 羊'. Who knew that beauty lie in big sheep!
The components of each character are made up of radicals and often another character that forms the pronunciation of the word. I believe the meanings of the radicals to denote core ideas, principles and values of Chinese people. The KangXi dictionary is organised by all the 214 different radicals and separated by the amount of strokes. There are some radicals that are present in other characters more often than others. For example, the radicals 口, 日, 心 and 女, which mean 'mouth, day, heart and woman'. I wanted to take a look at the final character, 女, as I've seen it crop up in many different types of words.
I really was drawn to exploring this word after my Chinese teacher described the word for man男 formation as being田field +力strength, while the word for wife妻 , was described as a woman doing the sweeping as broom is帚. I wondered if this plays into the Chinese psyche having characters for meanings that are frightfully archaic from modern-day society. Perhaps it still reflects large parts of Chinese society in the countryside that shows a deep reflection of the country’s roots. That being said, these ideas of patrimony are not aspired to today in China upward looking society.
Characters where 女 appears
妻....wife
妹妹/姐姐 ....younger sister/older sister
妊...pregnant
妈妈... mum
These words are to do with the woman's role and their unique capabilities. It is of no surprise to see the 女 radical.
Positive meanings
始..... start
婚.....marry, in essense to take a wife,
嬛....good looking, attractive,
好... good
These words have positive connotations so it is not all doom and gloom for the woman. One could wonder though why its with the woman and the son radical that the 好 character, one of the most frequently used words, is formed.
Negative meanings
妒....envy
嫌... dislike,
妨....hinder, obstruct,
奸....adultery
Some words to support my theory that the woman character is more ofthen present in words with negative connotations than the male character. It gives the impression that envy is solely a woman trait and that woman are perhaps the ones obstructing others.
Everyday speech
楼...floor of a building
接...receive
如...as, if, for example,
要...want
These are some other high-frequency words. I could not really find a pattern here at all. Although I did find it interesting to see 女(woman) + 西 (west) = 要(want). Does this mean that the woman in the West (of China) are wanted more than the ones in East.
Overall, the list shows that the woman radical, 女, appears in many different characters (there are also lots more which I have not learned yet and have not included). However, I theorise that the stories given to explain the characters of each other sex portray a more rosy outlook to men rather than women reflecting the patriarchal society of China. Further study could look at the changes made from traditional writing to the simplified that was brought in by Mao Zedong, who was an advocate for equal rights among workers and thus gave woman an added status among their male peers. It must be noted that everyone was on the same lowly peasant level status. But is this equality reflected in the characters, or is it just the agrarian lifestyle that is reflected. In any case, the Chinese characters and their stories given to them, represent the rich Chinese culture and should be celebrated even if there is a hint of archaic roles in society.
The components of each character are made up of radicals and often another character that forms the pronunciation of the word. I believe the meanings of the radicals to denote core ideas, principles and values of Chinese people. The KangXi dictionary is organised by all the 214 different radicals and separated by the amount of strokes. There are some radicals that are present in other characters more often than others. For example, the radicals 口, 日, 心 and 女, which mean 'mouth, day, heart and woman'. I wanted to take a look at the final character, 女, as I've seen it crop up in many different types of words.
I really was drawn to exploring this word after my Chinese teacher described the word for man男 formation as being田field +力strength, while the word for wife妻 , was described as a woman doing the sweeping as broom is帚. I wondered if this plays into the Chinese psyche having characters for meanings that are frightfully archaic from modern-day society. Perhaps it still reflects large parts of Chinese society in the countryside that shows a deep reflection of the country’s roots. That being said, these ideas of patrimony are not aspired to today in China upward looking society.
Characters where 女 appears
妻....wife
妹妹/姐姐 ....younger sister/older sister
妊...pregnant
妈妈... mum
These words are to do with the woman's role and their unique capabilities. It is of no surprise to see the 女 radical.
Positive meanings
始..... start
婚.....marry, in essense to take a wife,
嬛....good looking, attractive,
好... good
These words have positive connotations so it is not all doom and gloom for the woman. One could wonder though why its with the woman and the son radical that the 好 character, one of the most frequently used words, is formed.
Negative meanings
妒....envy
嫌... dislike,
妨....hinder, obstruct,
奸....adultery
Some words to support my theory that the woman character is more ofthen present in words with negative connotations than the male character. It gives the impression that envy is solely a woman trait and that woman are perhaps the ones obstructing others.
Everyday speech
楼...floor of a building
接...receive
如...as, if, for example,
要...want
These are some other high-frequency words. I could not really find a pattern here at all. Although I did find it interesting to see 女(woman) + 西 (west) = 要(want). Does this mean that the woman in the West (of China) are wanted more than the ones in East.
Overall, the list shows that the woman radical, 女, appears in many different characters (there are also lots more which I have not learned yet and have not included). However, I theorise that the stories given to explain the characters of each other sex portray a more rosy outlook to men rather than women reflecting the patriarchal society of China. Further study could look at the changes made from traditional writing to the simplified that was brought in by Mao Zedong, who was an advocate for equal rights among workers and thus gave woman an added status among their male peers. It must be noted that everyone was on the same lowly peasant level status. But is this equality reflected in the characters, or is it just the agrarian lifestyle that is reflected. In any case, the Chinese characters and their stories given to them, represent the rich Chinese culture and should be celebrated even if there is a hint of archaic roles in society.
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