Lesson 05 Combination of 口 and 十 with other elements

April 29, 2018

This lesson we will combine the 口 symbol with other symbols like 十, 士, 土, and 玉, to form Chinese words like 古, 吉, 吐, 中, and 国.

古

ancient

pronunciation: Gǔ

As in the animation, you can see this symbol 古, is the combination of one cross form 十 (ten) on the top of the 口 (month) the square form. The order of handwriting is, start from the upper part, the 十 part, when finish this part, then proceed with the lower part, the 口 (mouth) part.

By the way, in case you need to review these basic elements, the instruction for symbol 十 (ten) is in Lesson 02, and for symbol 口 (mouth) is in Lesson 04.

吉

auspicious

pronunciation: Jí

This 吉 symbol is the combination of 士 (learned or noble person) on the top of a 口 (mouth) symbol. It means “auspicious, lucky” and usually used as an adjective to add in front of a noun. For example, the word 吉日 (lucky day) is 吉 plus 日 (day, which we will learn pretty soon), that turns a 2-character Chinese word 吉日 (lucky day) for a special occasion like wedding day.

To review the symbol 士 (learned person) please check Lesson 03, and for symbol 口 (mouth) is in Lesson 04.

吐

vomit, spit, utter

pronunciation: Tǔ

This symbol is the combination of one 口 (mouth) symbol on the left side, and a 土 (soil, earth) symbol on the right side. It’s kind of symbolic character, 口 (mouth, eat) plus 土 (earth, dirt), when eat dirt, then you can’t help vomiting. This 吐 symbol is used as a verb, except “vomit, spit”, it can be used as telling something (truth) or pour out lot of stuff.

中

center, China

pronunciation: Zhōng

This 中 symbol has a symmetrical structure. A vertical bar penetrates a rectangle 口 from right in the middle and divides the rectangle into two equal sections.

中 (center, middle) can be use as adjective to combine with other nouns then construct another 2-character Chinese word, for example, China 中国, which we will learn another symbol 国 (country, nation) next. Somehow this 中 symbol is the abbreviation of China.

国

country, natiion

pronunciation: Guó

This is the simplified character for traditional word 國 (country).

This symbol is the combination of a big square 口 which contains a jade symbol 玉. It’s a simplified Chinese word for “country, nation” and the traditional character is 國, much complicated for this lesson today.

Again, reviewing the symbol 玉 (jade) is in Lesson 03, and the symbol 口 (mouth) is in Lesson 04.

Simplified characters are used in China, like the word 中国 China, you can see this word everywhere nowadays. Why the 2-character word 中国? 中 (center, middle) plus 国 (country, nation), the "central country", because the ancient Chinese emperors thought their nations were the center of the world, the whole world is called 天下 (everywhere under the heaven).

The symbolic meaning for this symbol 国 is interesting, the outside square 口 means the wall of a city, palace, and the inside jade 玉 means the jade seal of the king, ruler. In ancient China, a sovereign king or ruler should have an official loyal seal which normally made in jade stone, used to stamp on the official documents.

Thanks for your reading and practicing, any feedback is welcome.

Review and further study

古

ancient

pronunciation: Gǔ

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