Sinograph Addenda

Signs — one page for every character

Every character the sinograph courses teach has one page here: its home. Each page tells where the shape comes from — per the scholarship, uncertainty labeled — gives a memory hook we invented and say so, and shows the character at work in a real cited line. Foundations’ characters come first, then Literary Chinese’s, each in teaching order.

SignKeySaysTaught in
person rén 101 · ch. 00
big 101 · ch. 00
heaven tiān 101 · ch. 00
earth 101 · ch. 00
king wáng 101 · ch. 00
one 101 · ch. 01
two èr 101 · ch. 01
three sān 101 · ch. 01
middle zhōng 101 · ch. 01
above shàng 101 · ch. 01
below xià 101 · ch. 01
sun 101 · ch. 02
moon yuè 101 · ch. 02
mountain shān 101 · ch. 02
water shuǐ 101 · ch. 02
tree 101 · ch. 02
mouth kǒu 101 · ch. 02
child 101 · ch. 03
say yuē 101 · ch. 03
bright míng 101 · ch. 03
dawn dàn 101 · ch. 03
rest xiū 101 · ch. 03
humane rén 101 · ch. 03
kinds pǐn 101 · ch. 04
root běn 101 · ch. 04
tip 101 · ch. 04
not-yet wèi 101 · ch. 04
washing 101 · ch. 04
flavor wèi 101 · ch. 04
of zhī 101 · ch. 05
not 101 · ch. 05
indeed 101 · ch. 05
again yòu 101 · ch. 05
have yǒu 101 · ch. 05
ten shí 101 · ch. 05
arrow shǐ 101 · ch. 06
know zhī 101 · ch. 06
and-then ér 101 · ch. 06
walk xíng 101 · ch. 06
speech yán 101 · ch. 06
do wéi 101 · ch. 07
without 101 · ch. 07
I 101 · ch. 07
heart xīn 101 · ch. 07
grow shēng 101 · ch. 07
stop zhǐ 101 · ch. 08
upright zhèng 101 · ch. 08
this shì 101 · ch. 08
evening 101 · ch. 08
name míng 101 · ch. 08
who zhě 101 · ch. 09
its 101 · ch. 09
also 101 · ch. 09
at 101 · ch. 09
really 101 · ch. 09
lord jūn 102 · ch. 01
officer shì 102 · ch. 01
people mín 102 · ch. 01
minister chén 102 · ch. 01
woman 102 · ch. 01
eye 102 · ch. 02
see jiàn 102 · ch. 02
go-out chū 102 · ch. 02
enter 102 · ch. 02
come lái 102 · ch. 02
father 102 · ch. 02
is-not fēi 102 · ch. 03
be-at zài 102 · ch. 03
ox niú 102 · ch. 03
thing 102 · ch. 03
myriad wàn 102 · ch. 03
white bái 102 · ch. 03
four 102 · ch. 04
five 102 · ch. 04
six liù 102 · ch. 04
seven 102 · ch. 04
eight 102 · ch. 04
nail dīng 102 · ch. 04
head shǒu 102 · ch. 05
way dào 102 · ch. 05
mutual xiāng 102 · ch. 05
old 102 · ch. 05
pattern wén 102 · ch. 05
place suǒ 102 · ch. 06
say-of wèi 102 · ch. 06
book shū 102 · ch. 06
poem shī 102 · ch. 06
quoth yún 102 · ch. 06
by-means-of 102 · ch. 07
use yòng 102 · ch. 07
in 102 · ch. 07
self 102 · ch. 07
give-with 102 · ch. 07
by-now 102 · ch. 08
already 102 · ch. 08
now jīn 102 · ch. 08
learn xué 102 · ch. 08
season shí 102 · ch. 08
year nián 102 · ch. 08
direction fāng 102 · ch. 09
can 102 · ch. 09
what 102 · ch. 09
peace ān 102 · ch. 09
east dōng 102 · ch. 09
cowrie bèi 102 · ch. 10
knife dāo 102 · ch. 10
divide fēn 102 · ch. 10
rule 102 · ch. 10
first xiān 102 · ch. 10
after hòu 102 · ch. 10
able néng 102 · ch. 11
get 102 · ch. 11
want 102 · ch. 11
make zuò 102 · ch. 11
become chéng 102 · ch. 11
使 send shǐ 102 · ch. 12
work shì 102 · ch. 12
state guó 102 · ch. 12
thousand qiān 102 · ch. 12
duke gōng 102 · ch. 12
generation shì 102 · ch. 12
like 102 · ch. 13
fond hǎo 102 · ch. 13
as-if ruò 102 · ch. 13
same tóng 102 · ch. 13
good shàn 102 · ch. 13
long cháng 102 · ch. 13
all jiē 102 · ch. 14
hundred bǎi 102 · ch. 14
nine jiǔ 102 · ch. 14
arrive zhì 102 · ch. 14
this-here 102 · ch. 14
therefore 102 · ch. 15
so rán 102 · ch. 15
ground 102 · ch. 15
wind fēng 102 · ch. 15
follow cóng 102 · ch. 15