Since probably more than just me wonders over the characters I thought that I as well could post my own structure of the words in the lessons. I take one word per post since otherwise the post would be too long.

New word                                

衣服   yīfu clothing               

Character: 衣

Pinyin: yī

Meaning: clothes, clothing; cover, skin

HSK level: 1 (basic)

Frequency: 590

Strokes: 6   

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: The picture shows on the top the outer garments with sleeves and the bottom the flowing robes.

You have probably seems the Chinese cloths with the big hanging sleeves:

Stroke order animation: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E8%A1%A3

 Is a radical. Combined with other characters parts it denotes something with clothes.

袈 jiā Buddhist monks robe          

Notes, when the radical is on the left in a character it changes shape to this: 衤

衬 chèn underwear; inner garments

Gives pronunciation to other characters, such as依yī rely on, consent, obey a wish (here it is the person that is the radical)

Example words:

Example words:

洗衣机 xǐ yī jī washer / washing machine 
内衣 nèi yī undergarment / underwear 
睡衣 shuì yī night clothes / pajamas 
衣装 yī zhuāng garment 
雨衣 yǔ yī raincoat 
衬衣 chèn yī shirt 
救生衣 jiù shēng yī life jacket / life vest 
洗衣店 xǐ yī diàn laundry-shop 
戎衣 róng yī military uniform 

衣厨 yī chú wardrobe

衣架 yī jià clothes-hanger clothes-rack  

Character: 服  

Pinyin: fú

Meaning: clothes; wear, dress

HSL level: 1 (basic)

Frequency: 357

Strokes: 8   

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

I like the explanation for this character. It is so logical once you see it.

Character: 你

Pinyin: nǐ

Meaning: You

HSK level: 1 (basic)

Frequency: 38

Strokes: 7   

Radical part: 人 亻

Alternative shapes of radical: 人 亻

Radical meaning: man; people; mankind; someone

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Stroke order: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E4%BC%B1

Etymology: In the original form the right part where an pictograph of a balace loaded with equaly load on both sides. This is now simplified but we can still se the balancer and the load hanging down on each side. By adding the person radical we get something that balances and is about persons = you. An equal person( equal weight) to you self is another person. 

Character: 很 

Pinyin: hěn

Meaning: very, quite, much

HSK level: 1 (basic)

Frequency: 175

Strokes: 9  

Radical part:  彳(step )

Etymology: The phonetic part (the right part) where originally written as

They eye means defiant and the lower part means to turn around. = stubborn, to refuse to look away. Today this is simplified to 艮 The left part (彳)that is the radical and means step . Together they mean very indicating the amont of steps needed to deal with such stuborness.

Stroke order: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E5%BE%88

Even though the logic behind 不 is unclear, there are some lovely attempts on explanations.
It is also very very frequent in Chinese.

Character: 不

Pinyin: bù

Grammar note: The word "bu" is 4th tone, but when it is followed by another 4th tone, it becomes 2nd tone.

Radical part: 一

Stroke order: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E4%B8%8D

Etymology: The original shape:

Is a bird flying towards the sky and disappearing from sight, as if becoming nonexistent. Another explanation is the bird trying to reach its destination but the sky is blocking the path and hence the bird will not reach the destination. My favorite explanation though is this. The top is not the sky but the ground. The part under the ground is the roots of a plant. When growing e.g. rice we do not want the roots but the rice so the things under the ground is not wanted.

不同 bùtóng different; not the same; not alike
不久 bùjiǔ not long (after); before too long; soon; soon after
不错 búcuò correct; right; not bad; pretty good
不但 búdàn not only
不要 búyào don't!; must not

Today we will look at all four cardinal points starting with 东. 

Traditional form: 東

Meaning: east, eastern, eastward

HSK level: 1 (basic)

Frequency: 155

Radical part: 一

Stroke order: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?searchChinese=1&zi=%E4%B8%9C

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: The original shape:

Man looked to the east to find an suitable sign for this direction. What he

found where the sun(日,rì) going up behind a tree (木,mù) = 東 ,the sun going up over a tree in the east.

Example words:

东西 dōngxi things; objects
东边 dōngbiān eastern side
东北 dōngběi northeast
东南 dōngnán southeast
东方 dōngfāng the East; Eastern countries
东部 dōngbù the east; the eastern part
东京 dōngjīng Tokyo (capital of Japan)

Fourth and last cardinal point is: 南 (nán, south).

Character: 南

Traditional form: 南  

Pinyin: nán

Meaning: south; southern part; southward

Frequency: 200

Strokes: 5

Radical part: 十

Radical meaning: ten

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: Historians have not agreed on the true history for this characters but there are two likely stories:

One is that it is a picture of an historic music instrument from the south of China.

It where very popular to hang up bells in different shapes in strings to an wooden frame and play on them. The bell could look like this:

The other explanation is that the inner part:

meaning the place jén ( historical place in south of China) or luxuriant vegetation. It where surrounded with an outer boundary:

冂

The character where topped by the radical 十  that at that time also meant constant growth. What we get then is the outer boundaries of the fields in the south with constant growth. The south of China did feed large parts of the north. There is for instance a canal dug from Hangzhou ,south of Shanghai ,to Beijing to feed the emperor and the court with fresh food. If we once more look at the old character:

We can se the place of  jén surrounded  with boundaries and the crops on the top growing out of the fields.

I personally find the first explanation to be most plausible since so many early shapes of the characters very much looks like the bells found in tombs in the south. It works for my memory so I stick with it.

Example words:

指南 zhǐ nán to guide 
南京 Nán jīng Nanjing prefecture level city on the Changjiang, 
南海 Nán Hǎi South China Sea 
南非 Nán Fēi South Africa 
南瓜 nán guā pumpkin 
南极 nán jí south pole 
南下 nán xià southward 

As promised we will look in to the character : 高 (gāo, high,tall ) as referenced in the post about 南 (nán, south).

Character: 高

Traditional form: 高  

Pinyin: gāo

Meaning: high, tall; lofty, elevated

Frequency: 132

Strokes: 10

Radical part: 高

Radical meaning: tall

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:  Here the story behind this character is very clear. In the oracle bones that have been found it looks like this:

Today’s characters have been altered very little: 高 The pointy roof have been simplified to the roof part but the rest are still the same. In the picture see the resemblance with a Chinese watchtower:

In old Chinese cities, the watchtower where the tallest buildings and hence tall. In some bronze characters the character where written like:

This indicates the wall around a city with the watchtower  as a tall building and the gate in the foundation of the wall. The 口 part can mean both mouth, entrance and gate.

Example words:

乐高 Lè gāo Lego (toys) 
提高 tí gāo to raise / to increase 
高速 gāo sù high speed 
高中 gāo zhōng high school 
高兴 gāo xìng happy / glad / willing (to do sth) / in a cheerful mood 
高等 gāo děng higher / high level / advanced 
高效 gāo xiào efficient / highly effective 
高清 gāo qīng high definition (photo, audio or television) 
高峰 gāo fēng peak / summit / height 
高于 gāo yú greater than / to exceed 
高质量 gāo zhì liàng high quality 
高高 gāo gāo tall 
高大 gāo dà tall / lofty 
高雅 gāo yǎ dainty / elegance / elegant 
高频 gāo pín high frequency 
高超 gāo chāo excellent / superlative 
高声 gāo shēng aloud / loud / loudly 
高强 gāo qiáng superior 
高烧 gāo shāo fever / high temperature 
高性能 gāo xìng néng high performance 
高傲 gāo ào arrogant 
打高尔夫 dǎ gāo ěr fū to play golf 
高档服装 gāo dàng fú zhuāng haute couture / high fashion clothing

A simple character but also very,very frequent one so we will dive in  to 在 today.

Character: 在

Traditional form: 在  

Pinyin: zài

Meaning:  at , in , on , up to , to rest with , to consist in , to depend on , to be alive , living , to be present , to exist , used to indicate a progressive tense

Frequency: 7

Strokes: 6

Decomposition:

 + 丨  + 土   土 (earth) suggests the meaning while  provides the sound.

Radical part: 土 ,tǔ

Radical meaning: earth, soil

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: This is a pictophonetic character

The sound is taken from 才 (cái, talent, ability; just, only)  and the meaning from 土 (tǔ, earth). The earth does exist even though the debate if it is round or flat might have been under debate ( sorry, that where a bad joke). The original meaning was " to exist, to live". Man do live,exist on earth. It where eventualy extended to also mean "be loacted in" and like.

Link to nciku usage of the character 在 :

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%9C%A8/1318957

Example words:

指南 zhǐ nán to guide 
南京 Nán jīng Nanjing prefecture level city on the Changjiang, 
南海 Nán Hǎi South China Sea 
南非 Nán Fēi South Africa 
南瓜 nán guā pumpkin 
南极 nán jí south pole 
南下 nán xià southward 

Another simple character but also very frequent one is 去,qù, to go away. This is today’s lesson.

Traditional form: 去  

Pinyin: qù

Meaning:  go away, leave, depart

Strokes: 5

Decomposition:

土 tǔ, earth + 厶 sī, private,secret

Radical part: 厶 sī,

Radical meaning: private, secret

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: 

It is believed to be a man over the exit of a dwelling cave. Hence the meaning to go away, leave the cave or home.  

Link to nciku usage of the character 在 :

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%8E%BB/1312364

Example words:

过去 guò qu (in the) past / former / previous / to go over / to pass by 

下去 xià qu to go down / to descend / to go on / to continue 

上去 shàng qù to go up 

离去 lí qù to leave / to exit 

死去 sǐ qù to die 

进去 jìn qù to go in 

从去年 cóng qù nián since last year 

抹去 mǒ qù to erase 

辞去 cí qù to resign / to quit 

带去 dài qu bring away 

免去职务 miǎn qù zhí wù to relieve from office / to sack 

去国外 qù guó wài to go abroad 

失去意识 shī qù yì shí unconscious 

过去经验 guò qu jīng yàn past experience

去垢剂 qù gòu jì detergent 

Let us have a look at 走 (zǒu ,to walk; to go; to move; to leave)  today.

Character: 走

Traditional form: 走  

Pinyin: zǒu

Meaning:  to walk; to go; to move; to leave

Frequency: 202

Strokes: 7

Decomposition:

土 tǔ +

Radical part: 走 zǒu

Radical meaning: run

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:  Remnant Primitive, a man 土大 with foot 止 - to walk

There are also alternative explanations based on earlier versions, like this one: The upper part is the man with his head bend forward to walk rapidly. The lower part (止 龰 ) means to stop. This combination of man moving rapidly and stopping suggest walking or running. This is to me the most plausible one.

Link to nciku usage of the character 走 :

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E8%B5%B0/1320329

Example words

走出 zǒu chū to move away from / to walk away from 

走路 zǒu lù to walk / to go on foot 

走去 zǒu qù to walk over (to) 

逃走 táo zǒu escape / flee 

走掉 zǒu diào to leave 

搬走 bān zǒu to carry 

冲走 chōng zǒu to flush away 

抓走 zhuā zǒu to arrest 

太空行走 tài kōng xíng zǒu spacewalk 

绑走 bǎng zǒu to abduct / to kidnap 

走子 zǒu zǐ a move (in chess) 

Since it is a very useful word,好, we take that as well today.

Character: 好

Traditional form: 好  

Pinyin: hǎo

Meaning:  good, excellent, fine; well

Frequency: 81

Strokes: 6

Decomposition:

女 nǚ(woman) + 子 zǐ (child) 

Radical part: 女 nǚ

Radical meaning: woman

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: 

In the first oracle inscriptions it is very easy to see the woman kneeling and holding her child. A mother taking care of her child is a good thing. It is also good for the man to have both wife and child. Other plausible explanations are that is that the most excellent possession a man can have is a wife and child.

Link to nciku usage of the character 好(examples, sound etc)

 :

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%A5%BD/1305834

Example words

最好 zuì hǎo best / (you) had better (do what we suggest) 

更好 gèng hǎo better / more 

好像 hǎo xiàng as if / to seem like 

美好 měi hǎo happy / fine / OK 

爱好 ài hào to like / to be fond of / to be keen on / interest / hobby 

好多 hǎo duō many / quite a lot / much better 

好玩 hǎo wán fun (to do) 

好看 hǎo kàn good-looking 

好久 hǎo jiǔ quite a while 

看好 kàn hǎo optimistic (about the outcome) / bullish / to think highly of / to support 

好几 hǎo jǐ several / quite a few 

爱好者 ài hào zhě lover (of art, sports etc) / amateur / enthusiast / fan 

还好 hái hǎo not bad / tolerable / fortunately 

好吃 hǎo chī tasty / delicious 

友好 yǒu hǎo friendly (relations) 

好听 hǎo tīng pleasant to hear 

好笑 hǎo xiào laughable / funny / ridiculous 

好运 hǎo yùn good luck 

不太好 bù tài hǎo not so good / not too well 

准备好了 zhǔn bèi hǎo le to be ready 

好意 hǎo yì good intention / kindness 

好喝 hǎo hē tasty (drinks) 

好话 hǎo huà words of praise / to speak well of 

早上好 zǎo shang hǎo good morning 

好久不见 hǎo jiǔ bu jiàn Long time no see 

好记 hǎo jì easy to remember 

好玩儿 hǎo wán er interesting / delightful / amusing 

安好 ān hǎo safe and sound / well 

好半天 hǎo bàn tiān most of the day 

有好奇心 yǒu hào qí xīn curious 

This weeks last character from "keys,Wallet,Phone" is 忘

Character: 忘

Traditional form: 忘  

Pinyin: wàng

Meaning:  to forget; to overlook; to neglect

Frequency: 1111

Strokes: 6

Decomposition:

亡 wáng(lose,perish) + 心 xīn (heart)

Radical part: 心

Alternative forms of radical: 心忄

Radical meaning: xīn,heart

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: 

心 xīn (heart) suggests the meaning while 亡 wáng (lose,perish) provides the sound.  The old form of the phonetic 亡 represents a man (亠 tóu, head) entering an concealment (乚 yǐn, hidden, secret; to conceal)and the meaning where to disappear or to perish. The 心 xīn ceases to act 亡 wáng = to forget.

Link to nciku usage of the character 忘(examples, sound etc)

Example words:

忘 wàng to forget / to overlook / to neglect 

难忘 nán wàng unforgettable 

忘我 wàng wǒ selflessness 

永志不忘 yǒng zhì bù wàng never to be forgotten 

念念不忘 niàn niàn bù wàng to keep in mind constantly (成语 saw) 

遗忘 yí wàng to become forgotten / to forget 

健忘症 jiàn wàng zhèng amnesia 

Today we look at a very common and also tricky character 和 hé (and, harmony)

Character: 和

Traditional form: 和

Pinyin: hé

Meaning: and,harmony, peace, peaceful, calm

Frequency: 24

Strokes: 8

Decomposition:

禾 hé (grain) + 口 kǒu (mouth)

Radical part: 口 kǒu

Alternative forms of radical: none

Radical meaning: mouth

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: 

In early seal script the character looked like this:

The left part, yue, is the name of an ancient musical instrument that indicated the meaning and the right part, he, indicated the sound. The sound of the music is peaceful. The character anyhow quickly evolved so in seal script it where written like this:

This is 禾 hé (grain) + 口 kǒu (mouth) grain is man's staple food and most agreeable to the mouth. Grain agrees with mouth to produce harmony.

I like to remember it like this: mouth AND grain makes my hunger go away and fill me with HARMONY hence the meanings ("and" and "Harmony") are remembered.  

Link to nciku usage of the character 和 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%92%8C/1305932

The tricky part:

和 pronounced as hé  and with the meanings "and / together with / with / sum / union / peace / harmony / " is the absolutely most common one but the tricky part is that the  character actually do have more meanings and even more pronunciations e.g.:

和 hè
 verb join in the singing
一唱百和
yíchàngbǎihè

和 huò
verb mix; blend
豆沙里和点儿糖
mix a little sugar into the bean paste
dòushā lǐ huò diǎnr tánɡ

和 hé
1. adjective gentle; mild; kind
温和 temperate; mild; moderate
wēnhé

和 huó soft / warm

Please join in the discussion about this very common word and its tricky behavior.

Example words:

共和国 gòng hé guó republic 
和谐 hé xié harmonious 
中华人民共和国 Zhōng huá Rén mín Gòng hé guó The People's Republic of China 
和平 hé píng peace 
平和 píng hé gentle / mild / moderate / placid 
和尚 hé shang Buddhist monk 
柔和 róu hé gentle / soft 
中和 zhōng hé to neutralize 
总和 zǒng hé sum 
和服 hé fú kimono / Japanese: traditional national clothing, as opposed to Western clothing 洋服 
共和 gòng hé republic 
维和 wéi hé peace-keeping 
和局 hé jú draw / tied game 
和谈 hé tán peace talks
讲和 jiǎng hé peace talks
和约 hé yuē peace treaty
和平鸽 hé píng gē dove of peace 
义和乱 yì hé luàn the Boxer uprising 

Today we look at a common and useful character 给 gěi (to give)

Character: 给

Traditional form: 給
Pinyin: gěi

Meaning: to give / for / for the benefit of / to let / to allow / used after a verb to indicate "giving"

Frequency: 212

Strokes: 9

Decomposition:

纟 sī silk + 合 hé unite,combine, collect

Radical part: 纟sī

Alternative forms of radical: none

Radical meaning: silk

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: 

The left part: 纟 sī  means silk. In the original form the character looked like this: 

What we se is two silkworm cocoons and in the bottom some silk thread used to build the cocoons. The right part 合 hé is An inverted mouth 亼 talking to another mouth 口 =to combine, to unite,to gather ,to collect. Unity and harmony among friends often requires gifts and silk have always been treated as one of the most pressures items so what can be better than give silk as an gift. To give also means to provide or supply. So, to get unity we need to GIVE some gifts and that happens to be silk.

Link to nciku usage of the character 和 (examples, sound etc)

Example words:

带给 dài gěi to carry to 
献给 xiàn gěi present to / offer to 
寄给 jì gěi to send to 
转给 zhuǎn gěi to pass on to 
捐给 juān gěi to donate 
补给船 bǔ jǐ chuán supply ship 
给以 gěi yǐ give / grant 

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E7%BB%99/1304965

The tricky part:

There are actually one alternative pronunciation and meaning of this character:

给 jǐ

verb: to provide

adjective: sufficient

Hi folks,

Apparently the Chinese 餐厅 "can ting" (dining hall, restaurant) is from the English "canteen" (which is from Italian, "cantina"), but I'm really only guessing here. Does anyone know for sure whether "can ting" comes from "canteen", and if so, when it began to be used in Chinese? (I think the characters above are correct, but I'm not sure.)

Today we look at a useful character 电 diàn (electricity). It is used in a large amount of words that is about electricity. Well worth learning.

Character: 电

Traditional form: 電
Pinyin: diàn 

Meaning: electricity; electric; lightning

Frequency: 298

Strokes: 5

Decomposition:

 田 tián field, arable land, cultivated

乚 yǐn hidden, mysterious, secret, to conceal

Radical part: 田 diàn

Alternative forms of radical: 田由甲申

Radical meaning: field

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:  To understand this character we first need to look at the traditional form of the character: 電

The original character is very similar to the traditional form:

What we see is the rain 雨 and under that lightning 电. Since lightning is discharge of electricity the character come to mean electricity.  Flashes in rain is electricity.  From the traditional form (電) the rain part (雨) where removed when it where simplified and only the lightning part (电) is left.  The character means today both electricity and lightning (闪电 shǎn diàn =lightning where 闪 shǎn  means flash ).

Link to nciku usage of the character 电 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E7%94%B5/1303229

Example words:

电话 diàn huà telephone / phone call 
电脑 diàn nǎo computer 
电影 diàn yǐng movie / film 
电视 diàn shì television / TV 
电子邮件 diàn zǐ yóu jiàn electronic mail / email 
家电 jiā diàn household electric appliance / abbr. for 家用电器 
电视剧 diàn shì jù TV play / soap opera 
电力 diàn lì electrical power / electricity 
电子商务 diàn zǐ shāng wù e-commerce 
电动 diàn dòng electric powered 
电工 diàn gōng electrician 
水电 shuǐ diàn hydroelectric power 
电脑网络 diàn nǎo wǎng luò Internet 
电梯 diàn tī elevator 
电压 diàn yā voltage 
静电 jìng diàn static electricity 
中央电视台 Zhōng yāng diàn shì tái CCTV (Chinese state television) 
有线电视 yǒu xiàn diàn shì cable television 
充电器 chōng diàn qì
无线电 wú xiàn diàn wireless 
电脑网 diàn nǎo wǎng computer network / Internet 
电池 diàn chí battery 
电邮 diàn yóu email 
电话卡 diàn huà kǎ telephone card 
电动机 diàn dòng jī electric motor 
卫星电视 wèi xīng diàn shì satellite TV 
高清电视 gāo qīng diàn shì HDTV; high definition TV 
电灯 diàn dēng electric light 
核电 hé diàn nuclear power 
电吹风 diàn chuī fēng hair dryer 
电脑软件 diàn nǎo ruǎn jiàn computer software 
电饭煲 diàn fàn bào rice cooker 
手提电脑 shǒu tí diàn nǎo portable computer 
公用电话 gōng yòng diàn huà public phone 

Today we will look at two characters as a change. 买 (mǎi, to buy)  and 卖 (mài, to sell)

Character:  买

Traditional form: 買
Pinyin: mǎi

Meaning: to buy, purchase; bribe, persuade

Frequency: 840

Strokes: 6

Decomposition: 乛 wān (yǐ second) + 头 tóu head

Radical part: 乛 wān

Alternative forms of radical: 乙(yǐ ), 乚(yǐ ),乛

Radical meaning: second 

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:  To understand this character we first need to look at the traditional form of the character:

買

By looking at early bronze version of the character we can see that it have changed very little before the latest simplification. The picture is a net over a cowry shell. In early days cowry shells where used as a sort of money.

Picture of a cowry shell

A net with goods e.g. fish is bought by giving your cowry shells as payment. There are many other suggested meanings to this. E.g with a net you can catch the cowry shells that can be used to buy things with.  To get the antonym to sell 卖, mài, we just add 十 ,shí ,ten to the top.

One easy way to remember them my teacher at the university in Beijing learned me. The character who wants to buy is having an empty roof = need to buy goods. The one who is selling is having ten items on the roof that he likes to sell.

The character have been simplified and today we are using 头 tóu meaning body and 乛 yǐ meaning second. I remember this by thinking like this: You need a second person, the seller, to be able to buy.

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E4%B9%B0/1310046

Link to nciku usage of the character 卖 (examples, sound etc)

Example words: 

购买 gòu mǎi purchase 

买卖 mǎi mài buying and selling / business dealings 

买单 mǎi dān pay the restaurant bill 

购买者 gòu mǎi zhě purchaser 

买主 mǎi zhǔ customer 

买到 mǎi dào bought 

买通 mǎi tōng

买方市场 mǎi fāng shì chǎng buyer's market 

拍卖 pāi mài auction 

专卖 zhuān mài monopoly / exclusive right to trade 

卖方 mài fāng seller 

卖完 mài wán to be sold out 

卖国贼 mài guó zéi traitor 

义卖会 yì mài huì bazaar

卖肉者 mài ròu zhě butcher   

We have before mentioned that most characters are build up from smaller parts, radicals. Today I meant to write about a more complex and highly frequent character but to be able to do that I first need to start with the parts that the character is build from. I start with 日.

Character:  日 

Traditional form: 日
Pinyin: rì

Meaning: sun,day

Frequency: 67

Strokes: 4

Decomposition: 日

Radical part: 日

Alternative forms of radical: 

Radical meaning: sun,day

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:

This is a character that have looked pretty much the same during history.

It is basically the sun with the aura around it. There have been small variants like:

One early seal character that I find very interesting is this one:

In the next post we will talk about foot. This character form is having a foot inside the sun describing the suns movement over the sky.

Link to nciku usage of the character 日 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%97%A5/1312649

Example words: 

日本 Rì běn Japan / Japanese 
日期 rì qī date 
生日 shēng rì birthday 
日报 rì bào daily newspaper 
当日 dāng rì that very day / the same day 
节日 jié rì
平日 píng rì an ordinary day 
日照 rì zhào sunshine 
日式 Rì shì Japanese style 
同日 tóng rì same day / simultaneous 
出生日期 chū shēng rì qī date of birth 
每日 měi rì daily

We have before mentioned that most characters are build up from smaller parts, radicals. We are on our way to a more complex and highly frequent character but to be able to do that we first need to start with the parts that the character is build from. Yesterday we started with 日(rì,sun; day) and today we go on with 止 (zhǐ, halt,stop) that is another part in this character.

Character:  止 

Traditional form: 止
Pinyin: zhǐ

Meaning: halt,stop

Frequency: 565

Strokes: 4

Decomposition: 止

Radical part: 止

Alternative forms of radical:  龰

Radical meaning: stop

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

This is a realy interesting character. The meaning today is stop, halt but in many complex characters it is having its original meaning, foot. If we look at the old forms of the character:

We can se the foot with three toes. In the early forms we can trace this back to many other charactes, e.g

出 (chū, to go out, to send out)

The idea of stop and halt we get from the fact that it is a motionless foot. Even thought is hard to se it clearly the character is a representation of a right foot. Picture it as a man laying down and you look at his feets. On the right feet you will then se the bigtoe point out.

Link to nciku usage of the character 日 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%AD%A2/1319650

Example words: 

禁止 jìn zhǐ to prohibit 
防止 fáng zhǐ to prevent / to guard against / to take precautions 
为止 wéi zhǐ until 
阻止 zǔ zhǐ to prevent / to block 
不止 bù zhǐ incessantly / without end / more than / not limited to 
被禁止 bèi jìn zhǐ forbidden 
止境 zhǐ jìng limit / boundary / end 
止汗剂 zhǐ hàn jì anti-perspirant 
静止 jìng zhǐ still / immobile / stillness

This is a sidestep on the way to the more complex character we where about to talk about but this character shows how small additions to a Chinese character can create new meanings.

Character: 足

Traditional form: 足

Pinyin: zú

Meaning: foot

Frequency: 502

Strokes: 7

Decomposition: 口 kǒu mouth+  龰zhǐ stop

Radical part: 止

Alternative forms of radical:  龰

Radical meaning: stop

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology: The 止 part we did look at in this post:

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3414

What we se is the foot, explained in the post above, and the knee-cap.

Link to nciku usage of the character 日 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E8%B6%B3/1320359

Example words:

满足 mǎn zú to satisfy / to meet (the needs of) 

远足 yuǎn zú excursion / hike / march 

美式足球 Měi shì zú qiú American football 

丰足 fēng zú abundant / plenty足球 zú qiú football / soccer 

足迹 zú jì footprint / track / spoor 

驻足 zhù zú to stop (walking) / to halt 

微不足道 wēi bù zú dào negligible

Character:  足 

After some sidesteps we are finally there with the character I meant to write about, 是. Very useful and frequent.

Character: 是

Traditional form: 是

Historical variant: 昰

Pinyin: shì

Meaning: yes, right, to be

Frequency: 4

Strokes: 9

Decomposition: 日 rì (sun) + 一 yī (one) +  龰zhǐ (stop)

Radical part: 日 rì

Alternative forms of radical: 

Radical meaning: Sun

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:

We have looked on the sub part in earlier posts:

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3416

and

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3402

Earlier forms of this character is just a combination of those characters.

What we see is the sun over the character for correct. There is a debate about the history behind this. To me the most plausible suggestion is that the ideograph locates the sun 日 over the character for right and correct, 正 ( this modified to the alternative form). The sun is the standard for correctness since it always on time will show up at the horizon. The sun also corrects tells us the time and the season of the year. Chinese people where very good in studying the planets and especially the sun since the agriculture where dependant on knowing when to plant and when to harvest.

Other more philosophical persons suggest that the sun is the exact reason we can exist on this planet and hence the meaning of am, are, is, right. I can see the sun, therefore I am so to say.  

Link to nciku usage of the character 是 (examples, sound etc)

On our way to the character I meant to discuss, we first have to mention this one since it is a compound of the next character.

By adding a single stroke (一 yī one ) to 止 (zhǐ, halt,stop) we get 正 (zhèng,straight,upright,correct,exact)

Traditional form: 正
Pinyin: zhèng

Meaning: straight,upright,correct,exact

Frequency: 117

Strokes: 5

Decomposition: 一 yī one + 止 zhǐ to stop

Radical part: 止

Alternative forms of radical:  龰

Radical meaning: stop

Stroke animation: (the strokes are drawn the direction the picture is tipping)

Etymology:

We have discussed the 止 (zhǐ, to stop) part in post: http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3414

BY adding 一 (yīn one) we get 正. It is an ideograph of a foot walking in a straight line. By going straight you go the correct way. Some historians also suggest that it is the foot walking up to an stop (一 yī ) signifying arrival at the correct location.

Link to nciku usage of the character 正 (examples, sound etc)

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%AD%A3/1319495

Example words: 

正常 zhèng cháng regular / normal / ordinary 

正式 zhèng shì formal / official 

正面 zhèng miàn front / positive / direct / open 

正规 zhèng guī regular / according to standards 

纯正 chún zhèng genuine 

正对 zhèng duì directly facing 

不公正 bù gōng zhèng injustice 

非正式 fēi zhèng shì unofficial 

假正经 jiǎ zhèng jīng hypocrite 

Character:  正