What do the character components in 旅 and 派 represent?

Question

Memorizing characters is tough. For me, these two were hard (旅 and 派), until today when I noticed that the bottom right part looks just like the character 刃 (the edge of a knife) written backwards. This resemblance makes it easier to memorize.

Nevertheless I have a few questions:

1. What does the bottom left character component in these two characters represent?

2. What about the top right part of 旅?

These components seem a bit uncommon in the dictionary for me, which is probably what made it harder for me to remember them in the first place.

3. Can I use a special dictionary on Android to look up all the characters in Chinese that have one of these two non-radical components in them, so that I might memorize similar looking characters?

I have tried Pleco, but could not find this feature.

Thanks.

Answer 1

though part of the right component of the character "旅" & "派" look similar, they've different origin.

旅 (u+65c5) is a character since oracle bone script, that it's composed by 㫃 (u+3ac3), plus 2 人 (u+4eba)

旅 (u+65c5) in oracle bone script:

㫃 (u+3ac3) in oracle bone script:

人 in oracle bone script:

then, the character 派 (u+6d3e), according to 說文解字 is 水 (u+6c34) + 𠂢 (u+200a2), in which 𠂢 is the mirror writing of the character 永 (u+6c38).

永 (u+6c38) in oracle bone script:

flip it horizontally, you've 𠂢 (u+200a2):

so, about your question:

what does that bottom left character component 
in these two characters represent?

㫃 (u+3ac3) roughly is a flying flag. while 水 (u+6c34) is water.

What about the top right part of 旅?

the character 旅 (u+65c5) should be "chopped" into 㫃 + 人, if not, you'd be confused.

to look up all the characters in Chinese that have
one of these two non-radical components in them

the components of chinese characters ranged from 1600+ to 3000+, depends on who did the research, including simplified chinese, oracle bone script, bronze script, small seal script or not.

though i don't have a smartphone yet, it's in doubt that any apps in android, or ios would satisfy your need.

lastly, i would recommend multi-function chinese character database to you, which is "with archaic script forms, etymologies, english-chinese lookup, & word-formations phonologically disambiguated according to the cantonese dialect"

have fun :)

Answer 2

As mentioned elsewhere, the bottom right of 「旅」 and 「派」 are unrelated.

---

The left and top right of 「旅」 was indeed a single component 「㫃」, and the rest of the character was「从」. 「㫃」 is a picture of a flagpole with a fluttering flag.

商
甲

粹282
合集27352

「旅」adds multiple people to the picture who are carrying the flag. The banner was later separated from the pole.

商
甲

鐵90.1
合集5823秦
簡

法200
睡虎地秦簡東漢
隸

武榮碑
　今
楷


　

「旅」usually represented a travelling military group, so sometimes a war chariot 「車」 was added to the picture.

西周
金

縈伯簋
集成3481

This shape is no longer found in the modern script.

---

「派」 was originally 「𠂢」, where 「氵」 was added later. 「𠂢」 and 「永」 were originally the same character, compounding semantic 「彳」 or 「亍」 (depicting half a crossroads intersection, an indicator of motion) and the shape of「卜」(literally branching cracks during oracle bone divination, here an abstract representation of a river network). The entire character depicts a long, flowing river network.

商
甲

甲3333
合集390西周
金

史宜父鼎
集成2515

Before standardisation, Chinese characters did not have strict rules; mirror-imaged characters were generally not treated as different, with exception to cases like「左」vs.「右」out of necessity. Later standardisation led to「永」being clearly written one way and「𠂢」being its mirror image.

篆

永部
說文解字東漢
隸

孔彪碑
　今
楷


　

篆

𠂢部
說文解字東漢
隸

朝侯小子「脈」
　今
楷


　

• The character meanings are developed through the original meaning of long, branching river network:
  • 「永」, long > long time/forever
  • 「𠂢、派」, branching (philosophical) schools of thought > political parties, styles
• This should illustrate why 「脈」 and「脉」are variants of each other.

---

References:

• 季旭昇《說文新證》
• 小學堂
• 國學大師

Answer 3

http://www.zdic.net/z/1b/xs/65C5.htm

◎ 旅 lǚ

〈名〉

(1) (会意。甲骨文字形,象众人站在旗下。旗,指军旗;人,指士兵。小篆字形,表示旌旗;从“从”,表示众人,即士兵。本义:古代军队五百人为一旅)

http://www.zdic.net/z/1b/zy/65C5.htm

象众人站在旗下 ( like followers standing under a banner )

1 what does that bottom left character component in these two characters represent?

That part was "从" (two people side by side), representing "众人" (followers = soldiers) in the original 甲骨文.

2 What about the top right part of 旅?

It was a "flag/ banner" in 甲骨文

3 Can I use a special dictionary obj Android, or app, to look up all the characters in Chinese that have one of these two non-radical components in them, so that I mg carry exploit other characters using this criterion?

You can use the site linked in this post.

**the left side of 派 in 小篆 was representing "river branches

http://www.zdic.net/z/1c/sw/6D3E.htm (派) 別水也

Answer 4

I think the Chinese words are similar to the English words. Each English word is constructed with letters, for which the 26 letters are the standard atoms. For each Chinese word, there are also such atoms, but due to the complicity, unless the Chinese linguists, nobody spend time on studying and remembering them.

To the specific questions:

(1) what does that bottom left character component in these two characters represent?

In both the two words (旅 and 派), the elements on the left are the whole, i.e., "方" and "氵". "方" means square and you can find it in use. For the"氵", it looks like "三" but evolves from "水" (water).

(2) What about the top right part of 旅?

Please see the picture: and refer to the order http://www.xiexingcun.com/hanzi/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=2987. It looks like the word "人" (people).

(3) Can I use a special dictionary obj Android, or app, to look up all the characters in Chinese that have one of these two non-radical components in them, so that I mg carry exploit other charactersusing this criterion?

Since the components are too complex, I think we only need to remember the words themselves. More exercise is necessary, and more important, writing exercise, not just typing on the computer, is important for better understanding the structure and good remembering.

Answer 5

旅 [ lu:3 ]icon Hanziiaudio brigade (army) Example:

第一空中骑兵旅

dìyī kōngzhōng qíbīng lv̌

First Air Cavalry Brigade. to travel travel trip Example: 希望我們會喜歡我們的中國之旅。 xīwàng wǒmen hùi xǐhuān wǒmen de zhōngguó zhī lv̌。 Hopefully, we'll enjoy our China trip. Cre: Hanzii Chinese dictionary