Analysis of Major Characters and Words (第一课)

Analysis of Major Characters and Words (第一课)

1. 结束结 (糸 “thread” with 吉 phonetic -> knot; to tie up, bundle) + 束 (use a

rectangular ribbon 口to bind a tree 木in the middle -> to bind) -> “to

conclude, end” ■ 暑假结束了。

9. 注册注 (水 “water” -> to pour) + 册 (pictograph: an ancient book composed of

bamboo strips tied together -> book) -> to commit one’s name to paper ->

“to register (for a course, etc.); registration” ■ 注册手续; 注册一门课

10. 手续手 (“hand”) + 续 (糸 “thread” with 卖 phonetic -> to extend or continue

like a thread) -> to extend from hand to hand -> “procedures, formalities”

14. 祖籍祖 (示 “omen” from ancestors-> ancestor; ancestral) + 籍 (the altered

“bamboo” radical 竹 on top -> an ancient bamboo book) -> book recording

one’s ancestry -> “ancestral home” ■ 我是美国人, 可是祖籍在中国。

15. 出生出 (“out”) + 生 (“give birth to; to beget”) -> “to be born” ■ 出生在明州

16. 长大长 (“grow”) + 大 (“big”) -> to grow bigger and bigger -> grow up; mature

20. 校内内 (pictograph: a “person” 人entering a semi-enclosed area -> “inside;

internal”)

22. 安全安 (“woman/wife” under the roof -> peace) + 全 (put away the “jade” 玉

for safe-keeping) -> “safe, secure; safety, security” ■ 安全问题

23. 省钱省 (少 “less; reduce” + 目 “eye” -> see less of something in one’s eye) ->

“economize, save” ■ 省钱, 省时间, 省水, 省电

24. 自由自 (short for 自己 “self”) + 由 (crop growing out of the “field” 田) –> out

of one’s own will -> “free, unrestrained; freedom, liberty”

31. 靠靠 (phonetic 告 on top + pictograph: 非 “two things leaning on each other”

-> “depend (on), rely on”) ■ 孩子靠父母。靠别人帮助我。

33. 道理道 (the classical equivalent of modern 路 “road, path”) + 理 (altered 玉

“jade” on the left -> “texture or pattern of jade, etc.”) -> “train of thought”

-> “reason, logic, sense” ■ 有道理 (“be reasonable, make sense”)