Chapter 3 of 16 · Explore the Cantonese path
The script · Chapter 3 of 16
How a character is put together
Most characters are two familiar pieces in a square: one hints at the meaning, the other at the sound. Learn to spot the meaning piece and a complicated character becomes readable.
≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Every character fills one square of the same size, however many strokes it takes.
- Most characters are two pieces: one hints at the meaning, the other hints at the sound.
- A piece shrinks when it moves left: 水 becomes 氵.
What makes a complicated character readable is that it is almost never one drawing — it is two or three familiar pieces stacked in a square. Learn the pieces and the wall turns into combinations of things you have seen.
Meaning on one side, sound on the other
Most characters are built from two pieces sitting side by side. Read across each row to see which piece carries the meaning and which one hints at the sound.
| Character | Meaning half | Sound half |
|---|---|---|
| 睇 | 目 | 弟 |
| 想 | 心 | 相 |
The meaning half is the reliable one. 睇
Pieces that tell you what a character is about
A meaning piece is a small shape reused inside many characters. Spotting one tells you roughly what a character is about, long before you can say it.
- 人 亻personabout peopleSquashed to a standing stick figure on the left.你nei5“you”
- 口mouthabout the mouth and speaking — and it marks most Cantonese-only grammar wordsThe mouth on the left of 唔 is the mark of a written-Cantonese word: Mandarin writes 不 instead.唔m4“not”
- 心 忄heartabout feeling and thinkingUnderneath it keeps its shape; on the left it stands up as two ribs and a spine.開心hoi1 sam1“happy”
- 水 氵waterabout water and liquidThree droplets on the left.河ho4“river”
- 手 扌handabout doing things with hands搵wan2“look for”
- 言speechabout speaking and wordsA mouth at the bottom with sound lines rising out of it.講gong2“speak, say”
- 木tree, woodabout trees and wooden things樹syu6“tree”
- 犬 犭dogabout animals, not only dogsOn the left it becomes a lean, crouching creature.狗gau2“dog”
- 辵 辶walkingabout movement and roadsA foot and a road, wrapping round the bottom-left corner.過gwo3“pass, cross”
- 目eyeabout seeingAn eye tipped on its end so it fits the square.睇tai2“look at”
Where two shapes are given, the second is what the piece shrinks to on the left. Noticing them is enough; none of this has to be memorised.
One stroke can make a different character
Compare the two shapes in each row before you read the note. Training your eye on small differences now saves you misreading a word later.
What is this character about?
- Which of 人 and 入 means “enter”?
Its right stroke reaches the top.
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入jap6 “enter”. - 講 has 言 on the left. What sort of word?
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A speaking word: 講gong2 “speak, say”.