Chinese Starter Deck

人 / 亻

rén — person (RADICAL; 亻 is the left-side form)

口

kǒu — mouth; opening (RADICAL)

女

nǚ — woman (RADICAL)

子

zǐ — child, son (RADICAL)

木

mù — tree, wood (RADICAL)

[A Christmas pageant might have a tree and a cow that says, “Moo.”]

水 / 氵

shuǐ — water (RADICAL; 氵 "three drops" on the left)

[He kneed Kay in the back, “Shooey, stay away from that water.]

火 / 灬

huǒ — fire (RADICAL; 灬 at the bottom)

[“Who started that bon fire? Here comes the firefighter.”]

土

tǔ — earth, soil (RADICAL)

[Two wooden beams, planted in the soil of the earth, down from heaven, up on the cross.]

金 / 钅

jīn — metal, gold (RADICAL; 钅 on the left)

日

rì — sun, day (RADICAL)

月

yuè — moon, month (RADICAL; also stands for 肉 "flesh" in body-part characters)

心 / 忄

xīn — heart, mind (RADICAL; 忄 on the left)

[The sacred heart of Jesus bleeds three drops of blood for our sin.]

手 / 扌

shǒu — hand (RADICAL; 扌 on the left)

言 / 讠

yán — speech, words (RADICAL; 讠 on the left)

[Dr. Pol has a real yen for his community. Jan walked up the steps (on the left) of the platform to give his speech. “I, I,” he stammered his words.]

门

mén — door, gate (RADICAL; traditional 門)

山

shān — mountain (RADICAL)

石

shí — stone (RADICAL)

[“Shi…. I stubbed my toe stepping up on this stone platform!”]

田

tián — field (RADICAL)

目

mù — eye (RADICAL)

[The cow saw with her eye that the gate was closed. With a moo she said, “Moove the gate.”]

耳

ěr — ear (RADICAL)

食 / 饣

shí — food, eat (RADICAL; 饣 on the left)

[She put a tablecloth over the table, the one with the broken leg, to protect the food they were going to eat.]

糸 / 纟

sī — silk, thread (RADICAL; 纟 on the left)

[“My father liked to spread a silky blanket over our Christmas tree. See how it looks like snow.”]

艹

cǎo — grass, plants (RADICAL; on top; full form 艸)

竹 / ⺮

zhú — bamboo (RADICAL; ⺮ on top)

[That’s some joo joo you play on your bamboo flute you two.]

雨

yǔ — rain, weather (RADICAL)

[You better stay inside and watch the rain out the window.]

马

mǎ — horse (RADICAL; traditional 馬)

鸟

niǎo — bird (RADICAL; traditional 鳥)

鱼

yú — fish (RADICAL; traditional 魚)

虫

chóng — insect, worm, reptile (RADICAL)

犭

quǎn — dog; animal (RADICAL; left-side form of 犬)

[The dog is going to chew on the back side of the guy running away.

示 / 礻

shì — altar; spirit, the sacred (RADICAL; 礻 on the left)

[on the three-legged altar, she sacrifices to the sacred spirit.]

衣 / 衤

yī — clothing (RADICAL; 衤 on the left)

走

zǒu — walk, go (RADICAL)

辶

chuò — movement, road (RADICAL; wraps bottom-left)

彳

chì — step; going (RADICAL; "double person")

宀

mián — roof, house (RADICAL; on top)

广

guǎng — shelter; broad (RADICAL)

疒

nè — sickness (RADICAL)

刀 / 刂

dāo — knife (RADICAL; 刂 on the right)

力

lì — strength, power (RADICAL)

阝

fù — mound, hill (on LEFT); yì — city, town (on RIGHT)

[“I’m supposed to Beta test.” "Either go down to the left on that hill (don’t fubar!) or go down to the right to the town where the crier calls, ‘Hear ye.’”]

贝

bèi — shell; money, value (RADICAL; traditional 貝)

王

wáng — king; as a radical = 玉 yù "jade"

车

chē — vehicle, cart (RADICAL; traditional 車)

米

mǐ — rice (RADICAL)

禾

hé — grain, cereal plant (RADICAL)

弓

gōng — bow (RADICAL)

戈

gē — halberd, weapon (RADICAL)

[“Gu… Gus! He’s running holding a weapon.”]

攵

pū — strike; action (RADICAL; on the right)

[“Pew, pew,” the man wearing a beret yelled as he ran at the enemy in a strike action.]

见

jiàn — see (RADICAL; traditional 見)

[“Why are you kneeling?” “I’m trying to see if I can stretch out this jean material with a box on my head.”]

页

yè — head; page (RADICAL; traditional 頁)

足

zú — foot (RADICAL)

[“Watch your foot. Where are you going?” “I’m taking my TV upstairs. It’s a zoo in the living room.”]

大

dà — big (pictograph: a person with arms spread)

小

xiǎo — small

一

yī — one

二

èr — two

三

sān — three

四

sì — four

[“Hey, four eyes! You’re such a square.” “Si,” he answered with his head down.]

五

wǔ — five

[Wu sat down at his desk, wrote down the number five, and then got up.]

六

liù — six

七

qī — seven

八

bā — eight

九

jiǔ — nine

十

shí — ten

上

shàng — up, above, on

[Sam, who shanghaied the stagecoach, sang while he did hang up above on the gallows.]

下

xià — down, below, under

中

zhōng — middle, center

天

tiān — sky, heaven; day

[A server carries a tray of tea and cakes on her head, not being able to see the sky.]

明

míng — bright = 日 sun + 月 moon (COMPOUND IDEOGRAPH)

好

hǎo — good = 女 woman + 子 child (COMPOUND IDEOGRAPH)

休

xiū — rest = 亻 person + 木 tree (person leaning on a tree)

[“Shoo! Can’t you see he’s resting against that Christmas tree?]

林

lín — grove = 木 + 木

[Linda bought two trees from Linville Woods.]

森

sēn — forest = 木 + 木 + 木

[The Indian philosopher Amartya Sen got lost in the forest looking for a copse of three trees.]

信

xìn — trust; letter = 亻 person + 言 word (a person standing by his word)

男

nán — male = 田 field + 力 strength

安

ān — peace, safe = 宀 roof + 女 woman

[A woman named Ann sits in peace, safe under her roof. Or is that her big hat?]

家

jiā — home, family = 宀 roof + 豕 pig

字

zì — written character = 宀 roof + 子 child

看

kàn — look, watch = hand over 目 eye (shading the eyes)

妈

mā — mother = 女 (MEANING) + 马 mǎ (SOUND)

[“Ma! Go sit down on that chair, mother.”]

吗

ma — question particle = 口 (MEANING) + 马 mǎ (SOUND)

骂

mà — scold = 口口 (MEANING) + 马 mǎ (SOUND)

[Ma looks angry wearing her square glasses and curled lip. She scolds staring down at her child.]

河

hé — river = 氵 water (MEANING) + 可 kě (SOUND)

湖

hú — lake = 氵 water (MEANING) + 胡 hú (SOUND)

洋

yáng — ocean = 氵 water (MEANING) + 羊 yáng (SOUND)

[“I’m too young to sail the ocean, the water splashing up on the mid-sail.”]

青

qīng — blue-green; young (common SOUND component)

[I like your etching with a blue-green landscape, the sky and the foliage. But why is there an elephant with a TV antenna on top?]

清

qīng — clear, pure = 氵 water (MEANING) + 青 qīng (SOUND)

请

qǐng — please; invite = 讠 speech (MEANING) + 青 qīng (SOUND)

[“i” was standing behind the counter selling an antenna. “Please, I invite you to try this on your old TV.” The register went ching, ching.]

情

qíng — feeling, emotion = 忄 heart (MEANING) + 青 qīng (SOUND)

晴

qíng — sunny, clear sky = 日 sun (MEANING) + 青 qīng (SOUND)

铜

tóng — copper = 钅 metal (MEANING) + 同 tóng (SOUND)

[A metalhead is kicking the copper bell making it go “tong”.

神

shén — spirit, god = 礻 spirit (MEANING) + 申 shēn (SOUND)

[“Shane (or was his name Sean, Irish for John) says the spirit of God up in heaven is like the wind blowing: you can’t see the wind but you can hear the sound as it billows the sail.”]

道

dào — way, road; the Dao = 辶 movement + 首 head

我

wǒ — I, me

你

nǐ — you

[“I see you hiding behind your robot, going down on bended knee and raising up his arms.”]

他

tā — he, him

[“Ta,” he called out to him as the L carried the H away.]

她

tā — she, her (女 radical marks it feminine)

[“Ta ta,” she calls as she pushes her grocery cart.]

是

shì — to be (is, am, are)

不

bù — not, no

的

de — possessive/attributive particle ('s, of)

[“Duh, just plug in Tom’s speaker (the speaker of Tom).