象形字

資料來源 維基百科

象形 [纂]慎曰：象形者，畫成其物，隨體詰詘，日、月是也。故象形字，當象物之形。除日月，有魚、馬、鹿、刀之字，俱象物之形。


說文敘：「象形者，畫成其物，隨體詰詘，日月是也。」


屬於「獨體造字法」。用文字的線條或筆畫，把要表達物體的外形特徵，具體地勾畫出來。例如「月」字像一彎明月的形狀，「龜」字像一隻龜的側面形狀，具四肢和龜甲，「馬」字就是一匹有馬鬣、有四腿的馬，「魚」是一尾有魚頭、魚身、魚尾的游魚，「鳥」則是一隻側有豐羽、下有肢爪的飛鳥，「艸」（草的本字）是兩束草。「門」字就是左右兩扇門的形狀，「戶」字則僅有一扇門。「車」字是中有車座、側有輪子、再加上輪軸貫穿其中的對稱字，「樂」字則是大鼓小鼓等樂器置於架上的象形字。而「日」字就像一個圓形，中間有一點，很像我們在直視太陽時，所看到的形態。

象形字的「正例」：純粹隨著原型畫下來的，形體上沒有太大改變，例如：日、月、禾、門、鳥等字。

象形字的「變例」共有三種：

第一種為「增體象形」：以前稱為「合體象形」或「複數象形」。例如「果」加「木」。

第二種為「省體象形」：例如「鳥」字省略中間眼睛，成為「烏」字。

第三種為「加聲象形」：例如「齒」字本沒有上方「止」字，為表示聲符而加上。（注意：這種字已向「形聲」類別發展，許多文字學者亦把這類字歸進形聲字中。）

象形字来自於图画文字，但是图画性质減弱，象徵性质增强，它是一种最原始的造字方法。它的侷限性较大，因为有些事物難以描繪。

Traditional classification


Traditional Chinese lexicography divided characters into six categories (六書 liùshū "Six Writings"), which are described below. This classification is often attributed to Xu Shen's second century dictionary Shuowen Jiezi, but it has been dated earlier. The first mention is in the work Zhou Li of the late Zhou dynasty, and the six types are listed in the Hanshu of the first century CE, and in Zheng Zhong (鄭眾) quoted by Zheng Xuan (鄭玄) in his first-century commentary of Zhou Li, although the details vary. The traditional classification is still taught but is no longer the focus of modern lexicographic practice. Some categories are not clearly defined, nor are they mutually exclusive: the first four refer to structural composition, while the last two refer to usage. For this reason, some modern scholars view them as six principles of character formation rather than six types of characters.

The earliest significant, extant corpus of Chinese characters is found on turtle shells and the bones of livestock, chiefly the scapula of oxen, for use in pyromancy, a form of divination. These ancient characters are called oracle bone script. Roughly a quarter of these characters are pictograms while the rest are either phono-semantic compounds or compound ideograms. Despite millennia of change in shape, usage and meaning, a few of these characters remain recognizable to the modern reader of Chinese.

Pictograms

象形 xiàng xíng "form imitation"

Roughly 600 Chinese characters are pictograms—stylised drawings of the objects they represent. These are generally among the oldest characters. A few, indicated below with their earliest forms, date back to oracle bones from the twelfth century BCE.

These pictograms became progressively more stylized and lost their pictographic flavor, especially as they made the transition from the oracle bone script to the Seal Script of the Eastern Zhou, but also to a lesser extent in the transition to the clerical script of the Han Dynasty. The table below summarises the evolution of a few Chinese pictographic characters. Where no modern simplified form is provided, it is identical to the traditional character.

Oracle Bone Script Seal Script Clerical Script Semi-Cursive Script Cursive Script Regular Script (Traditional) Regular Script (Simplified) Pinyin Meaning

— rì Sun

— yuè Moon

— shān Mountain

— shuǐ Water

— yǚ Rain

— mù Wood

— hé Rice Plant

— rén Person

— nǚ Woman

— mǔ Mother

— mù Eye

— niú Cow

— yáng Goat

mǎ Horse

niǎo Bird

guī Tortoise

lóng Chinese Dragon

fèng Chinese Phoenix