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!)...
  • 6,043
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....
  • 5,866
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
  • 5,866
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.
  • 1,446
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
10 votes

Weird Chinese Characters

They are Bopomofos (注音符号): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo According to Wikipedia, Zhuyin fuhao, Zhuyin or Bopomofo is a system of phonetic notation for the transcription of spoken Chinese, ...
  • 341
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?(...
  • 5,866
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 ...
  • 21.4k
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 ...
  • 6,063
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 ...
  • 35.1k
8 votes
Accepted

An unknown Traditional Chinese character on a decorative piece for Lunar New Year (Characters identified: 招財進寶)

It's not likely you'll find this in any dictionary because it's a conglomeration of four characters: 招財進寶 "attracting money and treasure". See if you can find them. Hint: there is one part that is ...
  • 5,792
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 ...
  • 5,866
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 ...
  • 21.4k
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 ...
  • 6,043
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 ...
  • 1,501
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 ...
  • 21.4k
6 votes
Accepted

The slang(?) phrase "乾掉了"

I think is a slang in Taiwan 乾掉了 mean something is turning into boring(usually use after someone say a not funny joke) or the situation that people don't know what to say or react to it ex1: You ...
  • 126
6 votes

The slang(?) phrase "乾掉了"

乾 and 幹 are both the traditional Chinese characters and can translated to a same simplified Chinese character 干. 幹掉了 is a slang means to kill or get rid of it. 乾掉了 just means something is vaporised ...
  • 761
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 ...
  • 1,650
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 ...
  • 4,920
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 ...
  • 73.2k
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 ...
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. ...
5 votes
Accepted

Characters for Taiwanese

I'm not sure how well it's implemented but you can check this out: 台湾闽南语推荐用字 台湾闽南语推荐用字 台湾闽南语推荐用字为台湾闽南语书写系统的汉字建议用字表,实施单位为中华民国教育部。 简介 台湾闽南语推荐用字于2009年9月中发布完700个字,并发布于教育部国语推行委员会(国语会)...
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