漢字 classification: 象形、指事、会意、形声


I'm looking at [this table](http://www.cc.mie-u.ac.jp/~la20100/kanziriku.html)
of classifying 漢字 into the types 象形文字、指事文字、会意文字、形声文字 (and 転注文字 and 仮借文字, but
I'll focus on the first four for now).

I like the idea of 見 "to see" being an "eye" on "legs", and the table agrees
and classifies it as 会意文字.

I also like the idea of 光 (and its traditional variant 灮) "to shine" being
"fire" on "legs", but the table disagrees and classifies it as 形声文字.

I appreciate that 火 might also play a phonetic part in 光, but can't help think
that 火 was at least chosen partly for its meaning, too.

Some of a longish list of other characters, listed as 形声文字, which I'd like to
mean more:

> 花 "a changing grass"  
>  時 "temple bells announcing the time of day"  
>  島 (or 嶋) "a mountain, where only birds live"  
>  雪 "rain/downfall, which you can hold/catch in your hand"

and my all-time favourite 漢字 (if only it were 会意文字):

> 風 "insects (mosquitoes?) hiding in an enclosure"

Am I imagining meaning where it doesn't exist or is this classification just
speculation (or the classification scheme simply too rigid)?




Why don't you post this question in Chinese Language Stack Exchange?

Both 見 and 光 should be 会意. The 儿 parts are actually “人”. 風 is 凡+虫(animals, not
insects). For some reasons, consonant endings “-m” and “-ng” in old Chinese
were sometimes used interchangeably, so 風 and 凡 were homophones. Similarly 鳳
contains the 凡 part too.

As for 花, 雪, 時, 島, etc. you can of course create poetic explanations, just as
explaining かんなづき as 神無き月 rather than 神の月, but I'm afraid it will not be
accepted by serious scholars.

花 was originally written as 華, which is a 象形文字.

Generally speaking, 形声 and 会意 are usually more abstract (adjectives, verbs,
abstract nouns, etc.) and 象形 is usually more concrete. (name of objects, etc.)
There are of course many situations in which its not easy to tell if a
character is 会意, 形声 or 象形.

For example, 浅 little depth, 銭 little weight, 贱 little value, 盏 small cup,
etc. All of them seem to have the same origin 戋 small.

雪 was originally written as 雨 + 彗(clear, broom, sweep). It can be either 形声 or
会意. 雪 can be used as a verb meaning “to clear”.
[雪冤](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/124191/m0u/)

See wiki [右文説](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B3%E6%96%87%E8%AA%AC) for
more information.




Why don't you post this question in Chinese Language Stack Exchange?

Both 見 and 光 should be 会意. The 儿 parts are actually “人”. 風 is 凡+虫(animals, not
insects). For some reasons, consonant endings “-m” and “-ng” in old Chinese
were sometimes used interchangeably, so 風 and 凡 were homophones. Similarly 鳳
contains the 凡 part too.

As for 花, 雪, 時, 島, etc. you can of course create poetic explanations, just as
explaining かんなづき as 神無き月 rather than 神の月, but I'm afraid it will not be
accepted by serious scholars.

花 was originally written as 華, which is a 象形文字.

Generally speaking, 形声 and 会意 are usually more abstract (adjectives, verbs,
abstract nouns, etc.) and 象形 is usually more concrete. (name of objects, etc.)
There are of course many situations in which its not easy to tell if a
character is 会意, 形声 or 象形.

For example, 浅 little depth, 銭 little weight, 贱 little value, 盏 small cup,
etc. All of them seem to have the same origin 戋 small.

雪 was originally written as 雨 + 彗(clear, broom, sweep). It can be either 形声 or
会意. 雪 can be used as a verb meaning “to clear”.
[雪冤](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/124191/m0u/)

See wiki [右文説](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B3%E6%96%87%E8%AA%AC) for
more information.

