16
votes
Accepted
What is the story or reason of how 龙 came from 龍?
TL;DR
Long Answer
From the oracle script to the seal script, character 龍 evolved from simple to complex. The seal script was already very similar to 龍.
However later, variants (there were too many!)...
- 6,073
16
votes
Accepted
Are there characters in which the radicals are the same but the position changes the meaning?
Same meaning:
崕 = 崖 (ㄧㄚˊ / yá) = cliff; precipice
峰 = 峯 (ㄈㄥ / fēng) = peak; summit
毗 = 毘 (ㄆㄧˊ / pí) = to adjoin; to border on
群 = 羣 (ㄑㄩㄣˊ / qún) = group; crowd
飃 = 飄 (ㄆㄧㄠ / piāo) = to float
鄰 = ...
- 1,404
11
votes
Accepted
List of all traditional Chinese characters
Download CJSYS-20110919.zip.
Find /CJSYS-20110919/cjsys/yong/mb/cj5-13053.txt
Copy the [DATA] section (from line 9 to 14136) into a spreadsheet.
Remove whatever you don't need.
Sort.
Remove duplicates....
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11
votes
Where to find online and easy reading material in traditional Chinese
You can use the Google Advanced Search.
key words: 兒童故事
language: Chinese (Traditional)
region: Taiwan
Some examples:
兒童文化館
中文兒童故事
兒童故事
格林童話集
兒童睡前故事
兒童故事
安安免費教學網－國小國語
安安免費教學網－千篇文章共賞
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11
votes
Accepted
Chinese ellipsis marks
Six dots.
It is called 刪節號 in Taiwan, and 省略号 in China. Both use 6 dots.
- 1,456
11
votes
Accepted
Does this building on chinese painting exist for real ? May the text which come along be of any help?
the building exists, it’s called “turtle tower”, in hanoi, vietnam:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoàn_Kiếm_Lake
- 15.1k
10
votes
API for transliterating a traditional character (writing the pinyin)?
There are several libraries for converting Chinese characters to pinyin. If you are comfortable with programming languages (which you probably are if you are asking for an API), your choice will ...
- 1,144
10
votes
Has Unicode included these Classical Chinese characters?
𢂎 U+2208E
𦩳 U+26A73
𥸷 U+25E37
𤭹 U+24B79
𠰉 U+20C09
𢮿 U+22BBF
𦧴 U+269F4
𢜫 U+2272B
𤍐 U+24350
𢃛 U+220DB
𤟔 U+247D4
𣩒 U+23A52
𩵖 U+29D56
𪇇 U+2A1C7
𩬱 U+29B31
𤜅 U+24705
﨣 U+FA23
𥺝 U+25E9D
髟＋忿？(...
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10
votes
Why most cursive forms of two Chinese characters, "不" and "正", have a different shape that violates the stroke order?
There might be a bit of misunderstanding about where cursive script comes from. Many cursive characters do not actually come from regular script, but are derived from Warring States era brush ...
- 22.2k
9
votes
Accepted
Gender neutral term for family members who are all first born?
Speaking from personal experience (as a 長孫 on my paternal side):
老大 would be the most common gender-neutral term used within the family. Very common.
長子 can refer to the one oldest child of brothers ...
- 6,388
8
votes
Accepted
How to type these old and rare Chinese characters?
If you're having trouble displaying the following characters install the Hanazono font.
zisea 𬚆
𬚆
unicode码：2C686
zisea 𩫁
𩫁
unicode码：29AC1
拼音mao4
石 毛 doesn't seem to have much of a record as ...
Mou某♦
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8
votes
Which Mandarin learning textbooks have the largest amount of practical exercises?
You can find some bookstores near the Elementary Schools (小學).
If you see some signs like 國小參考書, go to find 參考書 (references) or 評量題 (examinations) for the first or second grade (一、二年級). 參考書 include ...
- 5,886
8
votes
Accepted
What famous word or phrase can I use to tell people my surname is 袁?
Just mention a famous person with that surname, e.g.
袁紹 from the Three Kingdoms
袁崇煥, patriot, martyr, and brilliant military commander who was instrumental in repelling the Jurchens for the Ming ...
- 22.2k
7
votes
Stamped Chinese characters on a banknote
Read right to left, top to bottom.
富行揀選
樣券
富行 was short for 雲南富滇銀行 (The Yunnan "Fu-Tien" Bank), 揀選 meant "select, pick".
樣券 means "banknote sample".
PS: Welcome to ...
- 6,073
7
votes
What does this mean in English, very few words (Screenshot inside)?
illusional romance
梦幻：梦是睡觉时的妄想，幻是魔术师的表演。二个都是虚假的。
情缘：情通常指男女爱情，缘是缘分(the fate, the lot, the second cause)。
补充：
'梦幻' also means '美好的'(extraordinary, too good to be true)。
For example: 梦幻音乐。 It means ...
- 1,328
7
votes
What are five most useful or common Chengyu phrases in the workplace?
a newbie
菜鳥應該自認 才疏學淺 孤陋寡聞 有如 井底之蛙 所知有限
對公司的文化習慣更是 一無所知 一竅不通
縱然是 三頭六臂 神通廣大 學富五車 才高八斗
也不可 恃才傲物 妄自尊大 目中無人 不可一世
更不可 自命不凡 自以為是 夜郎自大 剛愎自用
應當 虛懷若谷 謙卑自牧 移樽就教 不恥下問
同事 循循善誘 諄諄教誨 善意提醒 好心指點
自當 ...
- 1,974
7
votes
What are five most useful or common Chengyu phrases in the workplace?
Two seniors
甲經理 老成持重 一絲不苟 實事求是 公正無私
看似 不苟言笑 態度嚴肅
其實 和藹可親 平易近人
對公司 忠心耿耿 鞠躬盡瘁
對部屬 寬大仁厚 一視同仁
做人 推心置腹 以誠相待 心口如一 古道熱腸
做事 一板一眼 有條有理 深思熟慮 以身作則
團隊 心悅誠服 五體投地 一團和氣 事半功倍
乙經理 老氣橫秋 倚老賣老 ...
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7
votes
When to use 于 and not 於 in traditional Chinese?
This answer details a bit of history of the development of「于」and「於」, and addresses why they overlap. It is purely meant to be a complement to @user3306356's answer, which has responded to the question ...
- 22.2k
6
votes
Why are traditional and simplified different in such small manner?
Kanji is the Japanese word for 漢字 (Chinese character). It is "hanzi" in Chinese. And only hanzi has tranditional and simplified forms. Kanji is also simplified, but kanji has only one official form in ...
- 545
6
votes
Accepted
Ancient forms of characters
I'm afraid different people may use these terms in slightly different ways. But the way I understand it,
standard form 標準體 is one of several ways of writing a character, chosen as standard in a ...
- 1,660
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between 嘗試，試圖，and 企圖?
嘗試 means simply "to try" or "have tried". For example,
"Try something new" => 嘗試新事物
試圖 is synonymous with 打算, and means "planning to do something". It can be translated as "try" or "attempt", but ...
- 4,940
6
votes
Is "繁体字" a “贬义词”？
繁 in 繁体字 is in contrast to 简 in 简体字
繁 = complex; 简 = simple
For Mainland Chinese who use simplified Chinese (简体字) , the traditional Chinese would naturally be called 繁体字 by them. It is not a ...
- 77.1k
6
votes
Accepted
What are characters called when they have three of the same radical used?
maybe, called “三疊字”, have a look of this page
10個少見「三疊字」 你識唔識讀？
btw, the wiki page:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/三叠字
have fun :)
edited.
i checked a book in literary chinese, it was called “三字”. a ...
- 15.1k
5
votes
Accepted
An unknown, calligraphic Traditional Chinese character (Character identified: 常)
What you posted is 常 (pinyin: chang2).
It means always or often, and with New Year decorations, can appear in combination for example in well-wishing phrases about happiness, fortunes, health, etc.
...
- 500
5
votes
Accepted
Does 声 exist as a traditional character?
Yes,「声」represented the word now written as「磬」(stone chimes).
「声」was originally part of「殸」(stone chimes), and this character later became「磬」. Later on, people began cutting off the components from「聲」(...
- 22.2k
5
votes
API for transliterating a traditional character (writing the pinyin)?
if you have programming knowledge, you may download the 國語辭典 (of taiwan), which is under creative commons 3.0
http://resources.publicense.moe.edu.tw/dict_reviseddict_download.html
basically, it's 3 ...
- 15.1k
5
votes
Can anyone tell me what this means please? I think it is a proverb
From Tao Te Ching ("Canon of morality") attributed to Laozi. These words are excerpted from various parts. Various translation exists, and here I am just being literal.
上善若水。水善利萬物而不爭。(part 8)
The ...
- 511
5
votes
Accepted
What are five most useful or common Chengyu phrases in the workplace?
A work place is also a social environment, almost all idioms can be incorporated into everyday conversations in the workplace. However, some idioms are more applicable in the work place.
公事公辦 - to ...
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5
votes
What are five most useful or common Chengyu phrases in the workplace?
A boss
董事長 大公無私 一言九鼎 樂善好施 德高望重
雖逾 古稀之年 雞皮鶴髮
但仍 老當益壯 生龍活虎
老人家 滿腹經綸 出口成章
常能 開誠布公 高談闊論 滔滔不絕 侃侃而談
因其 言之有物 發人深省 苦口婆心 頭頭是道
時為 春風化雨 時乃 當頭棒喝
令人聽得 津津有味 興致勃勃 豁然貫通 茅塞頓開
對公司業務 來龍去脈 了如指掌
...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible