On the Chinese characters ‘山’ and ‘水’
Alternative Title
说“山”“水”
Document Type
Translation
Source Publication
The World of Chinese = 汉语世界
Publication Date
1-1-2007
Issue
6
First Page
26
Last Page
29
Publisher
商务印书馆
Abstract
The character “山” (mountain) is a pictograph; in oracle-bone script, it looks like three mountains. The number three in Chinese means multitude; so, three mountains represent a chain of mountains. Later, three mountains were simplified into three vertical strokes: this is how the Chinese character “山” came into being.
“山”字是一个象形字，甲骨文中的“山”字就像三座山峰的样子。汉语中“三”这个数字往往表示数量多，所以用三座“山峰”代表层层的山峦。为了简便，后来三座“山峰”被简化成三竖，这就是现代汉字“山”的来历。
Print ISSN
16737660
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Huang, D., & Bai, L. (Trans.) (2007). On the Chinese characters ‘山’ and ‘水’ = 说“山”“水”. The World of Chinese = 汉语世界, (6), 26-29.