Analysis of Major Characters and Words (第十六课)

Analysis of Major Characters and Words (第十六课)

15. 手术术 (“method, technique; craft” as in 技术 “technology”) -> 手术 (the

manual skill) -> “surgery, operation”

27. 替夫 (“adult male”) + 曰 (altered from 自 “self”) -> the two men 夫夫on top

indicates that another person succeeds or substitutes my “self” (自) -> “on

behalf of; for”

29. 单位单 (“mono-; one, single”) + 位 (“seat, spot”) -> an [sociologically]

individual unit (e.g. a factory, a business, a university, an organization)

31. 人员员 (the “mouth” 口component on top -> indicative of a person) + (the

“cowrie, shell money” 贝radical at the bottom -> “payment”) -> persons

who get paid, i.e. “staff, personnel”

39. 毫无毫 (the abbreviated form of 高 “high” on top, the phonetic part + the “hair”

毛 component at the bottom) + 无 (classical equivalent of “没有”) -> “not

even a hair of…”; without the least.

44. 武打片武 (the “stop; end” 止component at the bottom + the altered pictograph

“lance” 戈 on top) -> “stop invaders’ lances” -> “martial; military”

45. 发愁发 (“shoot out; generate”) + 愁 (“autumn” 秋 on one’s “heart/mind” 心 ->

sorrow) -> “become worried”

48. 过剩过 (“pass by; overpass, exceed” -> “excessive”) + 剩 (“remainder, leftover”)

-> “excess; surplus”

50. 关心关 (“close; enclose”) + 心 -> “to be enclosed in one’s heart” -> “be

concerned with/a bout”

51. 身材材 (“wood; timber”) -> 身材 (metaphorically, “bodily figure, shape, built”)

60. 指出指 (the “hand” 手radical on the left, meaning “finger”) -> 指出 (“ to point

out with a finger”)

64. 均衡均 (the “earth, land” 土radical on the left + 匀 “even” –> “to evenly divide

the land”) + 衡 (in the middle, the altered form of 角 “bull’s horn” on top of

something like a “seesaw” 大 -> balance) -> “balanced; proportionate”

65. 保证保 (the “[adult] person” 人 on the left + a blanked baby with its mouth wide

open -> “protect; preserve; guarantee”) + 证 (the altered “word” radical 言

on the left -> “testify with words” -> “guarantee”)