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.

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