How to make sense of radicals that form a kanji


One thing that puzzles me, is how to guess a meaning of a kanji by deducting
its radicals. For instance 神 (god), is constructed of ｜ 日 礼 田 . What's the
idea behind it? A stick combined with a sun combined with bowing/ceremony in a
rice paddy? How do I have to see a god in that combination of radicals? I know
some kanji radicals combined make more sense, but in many cases I cannot guess
the meaning of the kanji by just combining the radicals.




> For instance 神 (god), is constructed of ｜ 日 礼 田

It is not. This character is made with the radical 礻(which is the character 示,
just a little deformed when it appears as a radical) and the character 申. The
radical 礻 (示) was originally an altar, so characters with this radical has
meanings related to deities.

  * 祝 blessing (from deity)
  * 福 prosperity (bestowed by deity)
  * 祭 ceremony (used to be ceremony where one worship their deity) in this character 示 is on the bottom
  * 祥 Another term for prosperity/peace
  * 禍 woes (comes from deity)
  * 神 deity or God
  * and so on.

This 示 is the meaning-component, while the 申 is the sound component. 申 is
pronounced SHIN, and how is 神 pronounced in on-yomi? SHIN. This method of
combining a meaning-component to indicate a general meaning and a sound
component to indicate the sound is called 形声字, which is one of the six methods
Chinese characters are made/used. The six methods, collectively are known as
六書(six-writing). I suggest you watch [this
video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOj4zOcNdak), which explains 六書
clearly. So yeah, while for some kanji ALL components pertain to the meaning,
but for 形声字's only one part is meaning-related and the other part is sound-
related.




> For instance 神 (god), is constructed of ｜ 日 礼 田

It is not. This character is made with the radical 礻(which is the character 示,
just a little deformed when it appears as a radical) and the character 申. The
radical 礻 (示) was originally an altar, so characters with this radical has
meanings related to deities.

  * 祝 blessing (from deity)
  * 福 prosperity (bestowed by deity)
  * 祭 ceremony (used to be ceremony where one worship their deity) in this character 示 is on the bottom
  * 祥 Another term for prosperity/peace
  * 禍 woes (comes from deity)
  * 神 deity or God
  * and so on.

This 示 is the meaning-component, while the 申 is the sound component. 申 is
pronounced SHIN, and how is 神 pronounced in on-yomi? SHIN. This method of
combining a meaning-component to indicate a general meaning and a sound
component to indicate the sound is called 形声字, which is one of the six methods
Chinese characters are made/used. The six methods, collectively are known as
六書(six-writing). I suggest you watch [this
video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOj4zOcNdak), which explains 六書
clearly. So yeah, while for some kanji ALL components pertain to the meaning,
but for 形声字's only one part is meaning-related and the other part is sound-
related.

