Questions tagged [character-identification]
Questions about the identification of Chinese characters, especially characters seen in photos and other visual materials.
145
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123 views
Why is there an 'ear' radical in the character for smell? 闻 聞
Why is there an 'ear' radical in the character for smell? 闻 聞
I find this pretty confusing. Perhaps there is a fun story behind it?
1
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0answers
54 views
Translating seal stamp
I have recently been given some artwork and was looking for some help in translating the seal found on the art
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
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1answer
97 views
Help with Zen Painting translation?
Can anyone help with translating this? I think I see characters for Buddha, Chan Zen and Insight or Seeing Clearly?
3
votes
2answers
197 views
Cannot recognise a chinese chracter handwriting
Can anyone else tell me what the last character is please?
0
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3answers
198 views
What language is this, Simplified Chinese, or…?
I'm adding a Chinese translation to my [videos], 2 and I want to know if this translation is Simplified Chinese or what? Here's an image:
2
votes
1answer
115 views
What are the characters on this?
What are the characters on this? One seems clearly to be 商, but I can't figure out the one that seems to be facing the other direction.
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1answer
51 views
this mughal jade cup, it's “瓜瓣瓢” or “瓜辨瓢”?
this week, the christie's have an auction of this jade cup:
i suspected this one is the object of emperor 乾隆's poem 痕都斯坦玉羊頭瓜辨瓢歌
my question is:
the poem title is 玉羊頭瓜辨瓢
is it an typo of 瓣?
cause, ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Can someone please translate what she has on her back?
Hello so I ran into this tattoo and I love how it looks but I would hate to get something I don’t even know means just because it’s cute so I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to translate ...
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1answer
76 views
What is this character: ⿲舌⿳十⿴囗⿱龹贝⿱一八乚?
This is obviously a newly invented character designed by someone with a message. What the message is, or what the point of the character is completely escapes me though.
I believe it's IDS is: ⿲舌⿳十⿴囗⿱...
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1answer
65 views
Can 宁和 be used as a real name
I'm creating a half Japanese half Chinese character and I'm trying to figure out whether or not 宁和 can be used as a name. I'm also wondering if it means to aspire to peace and is read a "ninghe".
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0answers
64 views
I have a few seals I would like to learn about
I have three seals that I would like to learn more about. If anyone can tell me what they say I would greatly appreciate it! These seals were all on the same painting. In order:
The first one is ...
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1answer
83 views
Can anyone identify the characters on this seal?
I saw this seal recently visiting a friend of mine who collects old paintings and calligraphy in Shanghai. I'm hoping that someone here knows what these characters are. Any help is greatly appreciated!...
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0answers
101 views
Can someone tell me if this script is correct?
I'm trying to write in full cursive with my own personal style and this is one of my first letterings.
I'm quite happy and I think that it does look readable, but I'm afraid that the two long line I ...
2
votes
1answer
138 views
Seal Script Title + Artist Seals
This is another part of the same book I posted on here yesterday - I'm certain I've got one of the characters, I'm unsure of another, and I'm really struggling with the last one. If anyone is able to ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
Passage in Seal Script - 18th C Japanese Book of Chinese Poems (?)
I recently got an old Japanese Orihon (folding book) which has a lengthy passage in seal script - my assumption was that Japanese seal script would be the same as Chinese seal script, but if I'm wrong ...
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1answer
62 views
What is this thing?
1 hour ago, my friend sent me a mysterious thing.
Can you tell me what is this mysterious thing?
Here's the mysterious thing:
4
votes
2answers
70 views
Journey to the West: “Mother of wood”
I am reading Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West in English (using the translation by Anthony C. Yu, don't know enough language to understand the source) and there seems to be a recurring theme of using ...
3
votes
2answers
369 views
Can anyone translate this Seal Script into english for me?
I played this game called Sleeping Dogs that I really loved! It took place in Hong Kong and the main character Wei Shen has this tattoo on his arm that I thought would be cool to have. After doing ...
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1answer
120 views
Is this the character 良?
Someone sent me this picture and asked me if I knew what it was:
I had a couple of hunches and browsed through Pleco's Small Seal Script Chinese character font. The small seal script for 良 looks very ...
0
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1answer
91 views
What's the missing character: 幼儿为「么？」?
I've got this horrible scan from《旅行雜志》1945年第7期，第8頁 and I'm trying to make out the characters:
What I've got so far:
幼儿为「么？」
Any idea what the missing character is?
A logical answer would be: 兒,...
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1answer
118 views
Is ䷊ a chinese character?
Wiki refer of this character(here it's Chinese character)(you must see it in Chinese language)
Wiki refer of chinese_characters
These are Yijing Hexagram Symbols(4DC0— 4DFF).
In what degree can ...
6
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0answers
287 views
Unknown Traditional Chinese characters on lacquered boards
I'm a East Asian preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year and have been given these pictures of lacquered boards from my father.
The first picture I suspect contains stylized Seal scripts. I cannot ...
4
votes
1answer
734 views
Can anyone read Seal Script? I'm completely stuck
Is anyone able to give the modern character equivalents for these seals? I'm completely stumped on the top one, but got as far as "X 廾 東 X" on the bottom one.
There's also a 詩塘 at the top, and I don'...
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1answer
147 views
I have a tattoo, i wish to find the meaning
What is the meaning of these letters, and is it somehow connected to eachother?
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2answers
79 views
Can a Good Listener Help Me Translate?
I am translating a paragraph from English into Chinese, going by a recording a native speaker made. I am trying to use the same characters that they are using in their spoken translation, but am ...
3
votes
2answers
529 views
What are the characters in this seal script inscription on an ancestral altar?
Hi, this four character inscription is on an ancestral altar which contains two spirit tablets. I am unsure of the more modern equivalents of these characters and would be grateful for any assistance.
4
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2answers
106 views
What do the characters I've found on this old gun mean?
On an antique shotgun I was told had Korean origin I found the following (what I presume are Hanja?) characters†. Four out of five I believe I have correctly identified. One character I could not find ...
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1answer
63 views
What does this mean in English? (Its upside down I think in the pic)
Help me please! I feel so guilty without knowing what it means! Thanks..
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4answers
132 views
What do these Chinese symbols mean?
Looking for age or value of this bowl found while cleaning family home.
This is the inside of the bowl.
[![enter image description here][2]][2]
[2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/AZZvq.jpg
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1answer
155 views
Can anyone identify these characters?
Can anyone help me identify these characters, I'm having a difficult time even finding the radicals due to the photo quality. Thanks!
3
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1answer
239 views
Help identifying characters on a memorial coin
I recently got my hands into this coin
No idea how it got here, nor where it came from, I've tried to identify the text with some chinese speaking friends but we are unable to fully comprehend.
So ...
0
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1answer
184 views
need help me translate this title and signature?
can someone help me with what this says, i've tried google image search and even looking for different signatures but no luck so far.
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1answer
113 views
Translation of characters on antique metal
During my last visit in Shanghai I bought this old pice of metal, it might be silver. What are the characters on it? I am having trouble reading them. Also, what do they mean?
1
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1answer
90 views
Mystery Character (Components: 禾日日皿)
I have a mystery character that I cannot seem to find the usual way: OCR, radical search, stroke search, nor drawing in any IME pad.
It appears to have 18 strokes in total and composed of 禾日日皿. The ...
2
votes
1answer
275 views
Help me translate the red signature seal on this picture?
I inherited these pictures from my grandmother who bought them in China in 1980-81. I have had a difficult time trying to translate the red artist signature seals. I have tried image translator app, I ...
2
votes
0answers
286 views
What does this seal stamp say?
My parents have bought some type of ceramic vessel (plate, pot, something like that), which has the following stamp on the bottom:
Armed with 米好 '-'’s answer on how to decipher seal script, I’ve done ...
5
votes
2answers
185 views
What is the missing character on the seal?
跟進此問題，題中之印
共收六字，其中五字無疑，作爲
後皇漢裔帝Ｘ
Ｘ是何字，解之有難。僅看字形，個人釋之爲「亘」，而@水巷孑蠻釋之爲「亙」，因漢朝既無「亘帝」也無「亙帝」，二解都有問題。
先說說「亘」與「亙」二字的字源。二者在秦漢之後已經就被混淆了，甚至到今世多釋之爲繁簡或異體關係，非也。
「亘」字本義是環繞、迴旋，很可能跟「還」、「漩」等類似的詞有同源關係，但初期竝無「亘」字而以「...
2
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1answer
164 views
What are the six characters on this seal?
What are the characters on this seal? The middle two seem to be 皇帝, but I can't make out the other four.
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1answer
203 views
Chinese Poem And Seal Translation Needed
Really Hoping someone can Translate this Old Chinese Painting Poem and Seal into English for me.
edited, picture added.
3
votes
1answer
571 views
Could someone help me to identify these characters on the screen walls
Today I visited a garden of one of my friends and there were several screen walls with a character on each one. (The owner was absent and neither could his housekeeper read these characters.)
These ...
4
votes
2answers
373 views
What are the characters on this seal?
What are the characters on this seal?
Flipped image for easier reading:
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2answers
248 views
Can someone translate this Chinese calligraphy into English?
This was written by a relative of mine, Ahn Jung-Geun
4
votes
1answer
178 views
What is this character? How to identify it?
Came across this etching in a ABAC pattern as the A:
The more complicated ones were easier to identify, but this one is kind of tricky.
One guess was that it was the character for 今, but that doesn'...
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2answers
86 views
Translate the characters in this sign
I have tried to find the characters in this sign in order to translate them but with no luck for the 2nd character.
This restaurant's French name is "Le bonheur" which in English is roughly "...
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1answer
59 views
Does this box in the movie 妖猫传 (Legend of the Demon Cat) say 鳳栖樓 on its lid and 私人必死 inside, and what do they mean?
I'm watching the movie 妖猫传 (yāomāo zhuàn) = Legend of the Demon Cat. About 10 minutes into the movie, a man secretly enters a room named 御宬 (yùchéng) = "imperial storage" (I think) and searches for a ...
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1answer
123 views
untranslated characters and their meaning
I recently saw a movie where this appeared and unfortunately, this was the only part that wasn’t translated. Could anyone tell me what it says?
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1answer
178 views
Can I translate “still alive” as 还活着?
if I have to translate "still alive" can I write it like this 还活着 or are there better ways to say it? I have to use it as a title of a poem, so it doesn't have a context or a phrase where it should ...
4
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2answers
234 views
Help please me find out what this means
I’m looking to find out what this means. Please help was handed down to me from my family
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4answers
353 views
What does this seal stamp on Chinese painting mean?
Is this seal the name of an artist or poet? How can I find him?
[![enter image description here][1]][1]
Is this translation okay?
[![enter image description here][3]][3]
Thank you for every answer....
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1answer
216 views
What are these characters on old brass stamps?
These brass stamps were found by a relative in China ~1917.
I'm wondering what the inscriptions mean.
The smaller one in the likeness of an elephant is worn and discolored.
