An overview of the history and structure of Chinese characters, including radicals, strokes, and character components.
Introduction to Chinese Characters (汉字 Hànzì)
Key concepts, history, structure, and learning tips
| Period | Approx. Dates | Milestones |
|---|---|---|
| Oracle Bone Script | 1200–1050 BC | First known Chinese writing; carved on turtle shells & bones; highly pictographic. |
| Bronze Script | 1046–256 BC | Inscribed on bronze vessels; more regularized forms. |
| Seal Script (小篆) | 221–207 BC (Qin unification) | Standardized script for the empire; still pictorial but more uniform. |
| Clerical Script (隶书) | 206 BC–220 AD | Faster to write; strokes become flatter and more rectangular. |
| Regular Script (楷书) | 4th century AD onward | The modern standard; balanced, clear, and most widely taught today. |
| Semi‑cursive & Cursive (行书, 草书) | Tang dynasty onward | Faster, flowing styles used for calligraphy and informal writing. |
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pictograms (象形) | Direct drawings of objects | 山 (mountain), 日 (sun) |
| Ideograms (指事) | Abstract concepts expressed with symbols | 上 (up), 下 (down) |
| Compound Ideograms (會意) | Two or more elements combined to convey meaning | 休 = 人 (person) + 木 (tree) → “person rests under a tree” |
| Phono‑semantic compounds (形聲) | One part indicates meaning, the other sound | 河 = 氵 (water) + 可 (kě) → “river” pronounced hé |
| Borrowed characters (轉注) | Existing character used for a new meaning | 来 originally meant “wheat”; later borrowed for “come”. |
| Derived characters (假借) | Extension of meaning from an existing character | 雲 originally meant “cloud”; later used for “cloud” as a noun. |