Character points

Group 尉 (wèi) Motivated by Lesson: C0787: Iron Your Clothes Taken from character: 熨 (yùn) Taken from word: 熨斗 (熨斗; an iron) 尉 Pron: wèi Main radical: 寸 Meaning: (surname), milit. official, to quiet; old for: iron (!) Examples: 陆军中尉 (lieutenant) 熨 Pron: yùn, yù, wèi Main radical: 火, Meaning: an iron, to iron Examples: 熨斗 (to iron) 慰 Pron: wèi Main radical: 心 Meaning: console, comfort Examples: 安慰 (console, comfort), 自慰 (masturbate) 蔚 Pron: wèi Main radical: 艹 Meaning: azure, blue Examples: 蔚蓝 (azure, blue)

Group 人 over 彡 (zhěn) Motivated by Lesson: D0794 To Love or Be Loved Taken from character: 珍 Taken from word: 珍贵 (precious) 珍 Pron: zhēn Main radical: 王 Meaning: precious, valuable, rare Examples: 珍珠 (pearl), 珍惜 (cherish, value), 珍爱 (cherish), 珍藏 (collection, collect), 珍贵 (precious) (人 over 彡) Pron: zhěn Main radical: 彡 Meaning: dense hair 疹 Pron: zhěn, chèn Main radical: 疒 Meaning: measles; rash; fever Examples: 疹子 (rash), 痲疹 (measles) 诊 ( 診 ) Pron: zhěn Main radical: 讠 Meaning: examine or treat medically Examples: 诊断 (diagnosis), 诊断 (clinic), 诊治 (to diagnose and treat) 轸 ( 軫 ) Pron: zhěn Main radical: 车 Meaning: strongly (as of emotion), cross board at rear of carriage 胗 Pron: zhēn, zhěn, zhūn Main radical: 月 Meaning: pustules of any kind, a rash or eruption.measles, various kinds of fever, gizzard 畛 Pron: zhěn Main radical: 田 Meaning: border, boundary, field-path 聄 Pron: zhěn Main radical: 耳 Meaning: (old for: border, boundary, field-path) 眕 Pron: zhěn Main radical: 目 Meaning: restraint, to restrain anger 袗 Pron: zhěn, zhēn Main radical: 衤 Meaning: unlined garments; hem of garment 紾 Pron: zhěn, tiǎn Main radical: 糹 Meaning: crooked, obstinate 鉁 Pron: zhēn Main radical: 釒 Meaning: old for precious, valuable 昣 Pron: zhěn Main radical: 日 Meaning: bright 抮 Pron: zhěn Main radical: 扌 Meaning: to turn 沴 Pron: lì Main radical: 氵 Meaning: foul and poisonous in confusion; out of harmony, miasma 参 ( 參 ) Pron: cān, cēn, sān, sǎn,shēn Main radical: 厶 Meaning: to take part in, to participate, to join, to attend, unequal, varied, irregular Examples: 参加 (participate), 参军 (join the military), 海参 (hai3 shen1 - sea cocumber) 惨 ( 慘 ) Pron: cǎn Main radical: 忄 Meaning: sad, pitiful, wretched; cruel Examples: 悲惨 (miserable, tragic), 惨剧 (tragedy, calmity), 惨遭 (suffer), 凄惨 (miserable) 掺 ( 摻 ) Pron: chān, càn, shǎn, xiān Main radical: 扌 Meaning: to mix (chān), to grasp (shǎn), delicacy of a woman's hand (xiān) 黪 ( 黲 ) Pron: cǎn Main radical: 黑 Meaning: grey black 骖 ( 驂 ) Pron: cān Main radical: 马 Meaning: outside horses of a team of 4 The monster group 虍 (with 虐!) will hopefully come tomorrow...

Group 巳 (sì) Motivated by Lesson: E0785: 似曾相识 Taken from character: 异 (yì) Taken from word: 诡异 (spooky) 巳 Pron: sì Main radical: 巳 Meaning: 6th earthly branch, 9-11 a.m. 异 (异; 異) Pron: yì Main radical: 廾 Meaning: to raise, to stop (异); different, unusual, strange (異) Examples: 诡异 (spooky); 特异 (special); 差异 (difference); 诧异 (flabbergastered; astonished); 怪异 (weird); 惊异 (amazement); 奇异 (fantastic; odd; bizzare); 异步 (asynchronous); 异常 (abnormal); 异性 (heterosexual), 异议 (dissent); 异质 (heterogeneous); 优异 (exceptional) 祀 Pron: sì Main radical: 礻 Meaning: offer sacrifice to Examples: 祭祀 (offer sacrifices to gods or ancestors) 巷 Pron: xiàng, hàng Main radical: 巳 Meaning: lane, alley Examples: 祭巷 (lane, alley), 大街小巷 (large streets and small lanes) 包 Pron: bāo Main radical: 勹 Meaning: to cover, to wrap, to hold, to include, to take charge of, package, wrapper, container, bag, to hold or embrace, bundle, packet Examples: 包裹 (wrap up, bundle, package); 包涵 (forgive, excuse); 包含 (include); 包括 (comprise of, include); 包装 (package); 包子 (baozi); 书包 (schoolbag) 熙 Pron: xī Main radical: 灬 Meaning: prosperous, splendid Examples: 熙熙攘攘 (burstling)

correction: in the examples for 巷 it should be 巷 instead of 祭巷

Group 彭 Motivated by Lesson: E0789 最低工资 Taken from character: 膨 Taken from word: 通货膨胀 (inflation) 膨 Pron: péng Main radical: 月 Meaning: to swell, swollen Examples: 膨胀 (to expand, to swell); 通货膨胀 (inflation) 彭 Pron: péng Main radical: 彡 Meaning: (surname, diverse placenames) Examples: 彭县 (county in Sichuan) 澎 Pron: pēng, péng Main radical: 氵 Meaning: sound of waves Examples: 澎 (sound of waves); 澎湃 (surge)

Group 长: Motivated by Lesson: E0789 最低工资 Taken from character: 胀 Taken from word: 通货膨胀 (inflation) 胀 (脹) Pron: zhàng Main radical: 月 Meaning: to swell, swollen Examples: 通货膨胀 (inflation); 胀大 (to swell); 胀起 (bulge) 长 (長) Pron: cháng, zhǎng, zhàng Meaning: length, long, forever (cháng), grow develop, chief, head (zhǎng) Examples: 班长 (class monitor), 部长 (head of state); 年长 (senior) 长大 (grow up), 波长 (wave length) 张 (張) Pron: zhāng, zhàng Main radical: 弓 Meaning: a measure word for flat things, to open up Examples: 一张 (a sheet), 夸张 (to exaggerate), 开张 (open a business), 紧张 (tense, nervous), 慌张 (flustered) 涨 (漲) Pron: zhǎng. zhàng Main radical:氵 Meaning: to rise -: prices, rivers etc. (zhǎng), to swell (zhàng) Examples: 涨价 (rise in price), 暴涨 (rise suddenly), 上涨 (rise, go upwards) 帐 (帳) Pron: zhàng Main radical: 巾 Meaning: account, debit credit, curtain, tent, mosquito net Examples: 帐单 (bill, check), 帐户 (bank/computer account), 帐号 (account number), 转帐 (transfer money to/from account), 帐蓬 (tent), 蚊帐 (mosquito net) 账 (賬) Pron: zhàng Main radical: 贝 Meaning: account Examples: 账单(bill), 账号 (account number), 账户 (account) 怅 (悵) Pron: chàng Main radical: 忄 Meaning: regretful, upset, despair, depressed Example: 怅惘 (void, distracted, listless)

henning, don't forget : 嘭 pēng (noise made by shutting window, etc.) radical 口 (kǒu) not surprisingly for an onomatopoeia (i.e. sound) or 象声 xiàngshēng. It's interesting that while not explicitely stated, your Groups are actually based on phonetic components. Shows the importance of the phonetic+radical construct (and it's limits as a pronunciation clue).

Hi goulniky, thanks for the additional input! Very welcome. I try to base the groups on memorizability and the phonetic-part comes in natural. There is no formalizable rule here, though, it is subjective and groups vary in size and structure. Bases for the collection are (building up on furyougaijin's suggestions): http://zhongwen.com/ http://zdic.net/ http://dict.chinesepod.com/ a CEDICT-based dictionary as well as the Google-Input, which I use to harvest characters. I keep the collection in Excel and transfer the characters to a flashcard-program. I don't care about frequency so once in a while some very strange characters will pop up. The next prepared group - 甫 - contains lots of those. It is actually pretty monstrous.

Group 甫 (fǔ): Motivated by Lesson: E0789 最低工资 Taken from character: 敷 Taken from word: 入不敷出 (expenditures exceed income) 敷 Pron: fū Main radical: 攵 Meaning: announce, apply Examples: 敷衍 (apathetic; perfunctory), 入不敷出 (expenditures exceed income) 甫 Pron: fǔ, pǔ, pù Main radical: 用 Meaning: just, only (lit.) 旉 Pron: fū Main radical: 方 Meaning: to state, to announce 尃 Pron: fū Main radical: 寸 Meaning: to state to, to announce, to spread over 傅 Pron: fù Main radical: 亻 Meaning: tutor, (surname) Example: 师傅 (master) 缚 (縛) Pron: fú, fù Main radical: 纟 Meaning: to bind, to tie Examples: 缚上 (attach), 束缚 (bind, restict) 赙 (賻) Pron: fù Main radical: 贝 Meaning: contribute to funeral expenses 糐 Pron: fū Main radical: 米 Meaning: rice cake, (name) 榑 Pron: fú, fù Main radical: 木 Meaning: (old; for certain types of trees) 禣 Pron: fu Main radical: 礻 Meaning: (old) 溥 Main radical: 氵 Pron: pǔ, bó, bù, fū, pò Meaning: extensive, pervading; big, great, vast, wide; widespread Examples: 溥仪 (name of the last Qing emperor) 麱 Pron: fū Main radical: 麥 Meaning: (name) 郙 Pron: fǔ Main radical:阝 Meaning: (ancient place name) 俌 Pron: fǔ Main radical: 亻 Meaning: (old) 辅 (輔) Pron: fū Main radical: 车 Meaning: to assist, to complement, auxiliary Examples: 辅导 (to coach), 辅程序 (subprogram), 辅助 (to assist, to aide) 黼 Pron: fǔ Main radical: 黹 Meaning: (embroidery) 脯 Pron: fǔ, pú Main radical: 月 candied fruit (fǔ), chest/thorax (pú) 铺 Pron: pū, pù Main radical: 钅 Meaning: to spread (pū), a bed, a store (pù) Examples: 床铺 (bed), 店铺 (shop), 铺设 (pave) 埔 Pron: pǔ, bù Main radical: 土 Meaning: port, plain, arena, market Example: 柬埔寨 (Cambodia) 匍 Pron: pú Main radical: 勹 Meaning: crawl, lie prostrate 葡 Pron: pú, bèi Main radical: 艹 Meaning: grapes Examples: 葡萄 (grape), 葡萄乾儿 (raisin), 葡萄酒 (wine) 浦 Pron: pǔ Main radical: 氵 Meaning: beach Example: 黄浦江 (Huangpu river) 蒲 Pron: bó, pú Main radical: 艹 Meaning: type of rush; vine Example: 蒲公英 (dandelion) 哺 Pron: bǔ Main radical: 口 Meaning: evening meal Examples: 哺乳 (breast feed), 哺乳动物 (mammal), 哺养 (feed)

Group 危 (wēi): Motivated by Lesson: E0785: 似曾相识 Taken from character: 诡 (guǐ) Taken from word: 诡异 (spooky) 危 Pron: wēi Main radical: 厄 Meaning: danger, to endanger Examples: 危害 (to jeopardize, to harm, to endanger); 危机 (crisis); 危险 (danger); 安危 (safety); 危地马拉 (Guatemala) 诡 (詭) Pron: guǐ Main radical: 讠 Meaning: sly, crafty, accuse, deceive Examples: 诡异 (spooky); 诡计 (deceit) 垝 Pron: guǐ Main radical: 土 Meaning: delapidated 佹 Pron: guǐ Main radical: 亻 Meaning: depend upon; support; almost succeed, crafty, suddenly 姽 Pron: guǐ Main radical: 女 Meaning: squiet and nice 跪 Pron: guì Main radical: 足 Meaning: kneel Examples: 跪下(kneel), 跪拜 (worship on bended knees)

Group 青 (qīng; jīng) Motivated by Lesson: B0791 Valentine's Day Taken from character: 雯 Taken from word: 情人节 (Valentin's day) 情 Pron: qíng Main radical: 忄 Meaning: feeling, emotion, passion, situation Examples: 情报 (spy intelligence), 情感 (emotion), 情景 (situation, circumstances), 情节 (plot), 情理 (reason, sense), 情人节 (Valentin's day), 心情 (mood), 调情 (flirt), 同情 (compassion, relent, sympathize), 网际色情 (cyberporn) 青 Pron: qīng; jīng Main radical: 青 Meaning: green (blue, black) Examples: 青春 (youth), 青菜 (green vegetables), 青草 (grass), 青年 (youth), 青蛙 (frog), 青鱼 (herring), 青铜 (bronze) 晴 Pron: qíng Main radical: 日 Meaning: clear, fine (weather) Examples: 晴朗 (sunny and cloudless), 晴天 (sunny), 晴雨表 (barometer) 请 (請) Pron: qǐng, qīng, qíng, qìng Main characters: 讠 Meaning: to ask, to invite, please (do sth), to treat (to a meal, etc), to request Examples: 请问 (may I ask...), 邀请 (invite), 申请人 (applicant), 请求 (request) 碃 Pron: qìng Main radical: 石 Meaning: (stone) 精 Pron: jīng, jìng, qíng Main radical: 米 Meaning: energy, perfect, excellent, refined, very, proficient Examples: 精力 (energy), 精度 (precision), 精彩 (brilliant), 精确 (accurate, precise), 精神 (vigor, vitality), 精液 (semen), 酒精 (alcohol), 酒精 (elf) 睛 Pron: jīng, jǐng Main radical: 目 Meaning: eye Examples: 眼睛 (eye), 眨眼睛 (wink) 菁 Pron: jīng Main radical: 艹 Meaning: leek Example: 芜菁 (turnip) 凊 Pron: jìng Main radical: 冫 Meaning: cool, fresh, to cool, surname 婧 Pron: jìng Main radical: 女 Meaning: modest, supple 静 (靜) Pron: jìng Main radical: 青 Meaning: still, calm, quiet, not moving Examples: 安静 (quiet), 宁静 (tranquil, tranquility, serenety!), 冷静 (cool, cool-headed), 静默 (silence), 静脉 (vein) 靖 Pron: jìng, jīng Main radical: 青 Meaning: pacify; appease; calm, peaceful, quiet 靓 (靚) Pron: jìng, liàng Main radical: 青 Meaning: make up (face) 猜 Pron: cāi Main radical: 犭 Meaning: to guess Examples: 猜测 (guess, conjecture, surmise), 猜疑 (be suspicious, have misgivings), 猜忌 (be suspicious and jealous of)

Group 夬 (guài) Motivated by Lesson: B0791 Valentine's Day Taken from character: 快 Taken from word: 情人节快乐 (happy Valentin's day) 快 Pron: kuài Main radical: 忄 Meaning: fast, quick, swift Examples: 快递 (express delivery), 快活 (happy), 快乐 (happy, merry), 快捷 (computer shortcut), 快速 (high speed), 赶快 (at once, immediately), 尽快 (as quickly as possible), 加快 (to speed up), 凉快 (nice and cold, pleasantly cool), 轻快 (light and quick, agile), 愉快 (cheerful, happy, delighted), 痛快 (jolly) 夬 Pron: guài Main radical: 大 Meaning: deceive, one of the 8 diagrams, parted, fork, certain, old for: divide, seperate 筷 Pron: kuài Main radical: 竹 Meaning: chopstick Example: 筷子 (chopsticks) 块 (塊) Pron: kuāi, kuài Main radical: 土 Meaning: piece, chunk, lump, (measure word for chunks, lumps) (kuāi), unit/coll. for yuan, fast, rapid, swift (kuài) Examples: 一块 (a piece), 血块 (gore), 石块 (stone, rock), 石块 (block), 板块 (tectonic plate) 駃 Pron: kuài, jué Main radical: 馬 Meaning: gallop 决 (決) Pron: jué Main radical: 冫 Meaning: to decide, to determine, breach (a dyke), execute a person Examples: 决定 (to decide, to determine, to resolve), 取决 (to depend upon), 未决定 (pending), 判决 (court judgement), 决心 (determination, resolution), 决赛 (finals), 决不 (not at all) , 决心 (determination, resolution, determined, firm and resolute, to make up one's mind) 玦 Pron: jué Main radical: 王 Meaning: half-circle jade ring; broken piece of jade 鈌 Pron: jué Main radical: 釒 Meaning: to pierce, to stab, to take 抉 Pron: jué Main radical: 扌 Meaning: dig, pick, choose, select, gouge, pluck out Example: 抉择 (decision, to decide) 诀 (訣) Pron: jué Main radical: 讠 Meaning: secrets (of an art), to take leave of, to bid farewell Examples: 秘诀 (trick), 诀窍 (know-how) 觖 Pron: jué, guì, kuì Main radical: 角 Meaning: to dissatisfied, to criticize, to long for 鴃 Pron: jué Main radical: 鳥 Meaning: butcherbird, shrike (a sort of bird) 鈌 Pron: jué Main radical: 釒 Meaning: to pierce, to stab, to take

Group 犮 (bá) Motivated by Lesson: F0792 马丁· 路德 · 金 Taken from character: 拔 Taken from word: 不克自拔 (cannot free oneself) 拔 Pron: bá, bèi Main radical: 扌 Meaning: pull up, pull out, select, promote, lift, capture Examples: 拔除 (pull out, remove), 拔根 (uproot), 海拔 (height above sea-level), 提拔 (promote), 选拔 (select the best 犮 Pron: bá,quǎn Main radical: 犬 Meaning: (old) to pull up 跋 Pron: bá, bèi Main radical: 足 Meaning: travel, walk, cross mountins, postscript 题跋 (short comments, prefix and postscript), 序跋 (prefix and postscript), 跋涉 (trek) 軷 Pron: bá Main radical: 車 Meaning: sacrifice 菝 Pron: bá, bì Main radical: 艹 Meaning: smilax china (some kind of plant, obviously) Example: 菝葜 (smilax) 鲅 Pron: bà, bō Main radical: 鱼 Meaning: gobioid (fish name) 茇 Pron: bá, bèi Main radical: 艹 Meaning: grass, thatch, betel 魃 Pron: bá Main radical: 鬼 Meaning: drought demon 胈 Pron: bá Main radical: 月 Meaning: muscle flesh, white meat 炦 Pron: bá Main radical: 火 Meaning: fire energy

Henning, my website http://taeglich.chinesisch-trainer.de/index.php?alle=2 (in German) decomposes, analyzes and explains (thru etymology and/or with mnemonics) characters, shows collocations of characters and links them to many other valuable web ressources. As this works better with traditional characters, the focus is on those. Until now 617 characters are explained, and I hope to go on with one character per day. I am doing this primarily for myself to do a great leap forward in my passive and hopefully also active character knowledge.

Impressive site, hape. Definately keep that going. You should do it in English, though, to reach a wider audience for that beautiful piece of work. My intention here is a slightly different one, though, not as ambitious as yours. I want to collect groups for myself. Background: I score at about 2500-3000 in the character-test applet. http://www.clavisinica.com/character-test-applet.html which is defniately not enough to read at a better news level (and I am not even talking about writing). I still often confuse characters or am even totally blank. I one misunderstood the core meaning of a text (with no online dict in sight) because I did not know the meaning of 瓣. And don't get me started about places/ plants/ animals / dishes/ chengyus or persons . I became convinced that I need a go for a more detailed and systematic attack on *groups* of characters. I base this primarily on the phonetic component as furyougaijin suggested in his excellent post. These 2 excellent ressources guide me. They are esp. interesting for rarer characters: http://zhongwen.com/ http://zdic.net/

Group 若 (ruò) Motivated by Lesson: F0792 马丁· 路德 · 金 Taken from character: 匿 Taken from word: 匿迹 (go into hiding) 匿 Pron: nì Main radical: 匚 Meaning: to hide Examples: 匿迹 (go into hiding), 藏匿 (conceil, hide, harbor) 若 Pron: ruò, ré, rě, rè Main radical: 艹 Meaning: if, supposing, assuming; similar Examples: 若是 (if), 假若 (if, supposing, in case) 暱 Pron: nì Main radical: 日 Meaning: familiar, intimate, close, to approach 惹 Pron: rě Main radical: 心 Meaning: to irritate, to vex, to offend, to incite Examples: 惹起 (to provoke, to stir up, to incite, to arouse attention) 喏 Pron: rě, nuò Main radical: 口 Meaning: to salute, to make one's curtsy 蹃 Pron: nuò Main radical: 足 Meaning: trample 诺 ( 諾 ) Pron: nuò Main radical: 诺 Meaning: to promise, to assent, to approve Examples: 诺贝尔 (Nobel price), 允诺 (to promise, to consen to do sth.t) 锘 ( 鍩 ) Pron: nuò, tiǎn Main radical: 钅 Meaning: no, nobelium (chem.) 逽 Pron: nuò Main radical: 辶 Meaning: walk

Group 亦 (yì) Motivated by Lesson: F0792 马丁· 路德 · 金 Taken from character: 迹 Taken from word: 匿迹 (go into hiding) 迹 ( 跡, 蹟 ) Pron: jī, jì Main radical: 辶 Meaning: footprint, mark, trace, vestige, sign, indication Examples: 古迹 (historical sites), 神迹 (miracle), 手迹 (someones original handwriting or painting), 遗迹 (trace, vestige, remain), 踪迹 (track, footprint), 迳迹 (track), 匿迹 (go into hiding) 亦 Pron: yì Main radical: 亠 Meaning: also, too, likewise Examples: 亦即 (namely, that is) 奕 Pron: yì Main radical: 大 Meaning: in sequence, orderly, abundant, graceful 弈 Pron: yì Main radical: 廾 Meaning: Chinese chess game 湙 Pron: yì Main radical: 氵 Meaning: flowing like water 帟 Pron: yì Main radical: 巾 Meaning: tent, canopy

Group 文 (wén) Motivated by Lesson: C0790 Study Abroad Taken from character: 雯 Taken from word: 雯雯 (name of the female lead) Warning: Obscure characters ahead 雯 Pron: wén Main radical: 雨 Meaning: multicolored clouds, cloud patterns (name) 文 Pron: wén Main radical: 文 Meaning; language, culture, writing, formal, literary Examples: 中文 (Chinese language), 天文 (astronomy), 古文 (classic Chinese), 文章 (article, essay), 文雅 (elegant, refined), 文学 (literature), 文明 (civilized, civilization), 文凭 (diploma), 文件 (document, file), 文化 (culture, cultural), 文档 (computer file), 文本 (version, text) 蚊 Pron: wén Main radical: 虫 Meaning; mosquito Example: 蚊子 (mosquito) 蚉 Pron: wèn Main radical: 虫 Meaning: name of a river, variant of 蚊: mosquito 螡 Pron: wén Main radical: 虫 Meaning: old for 蚊: mosquito 汶 Pron: wén, mén, mín, wèn Main radical: 氵 Meaning: (a river in Shandong province) 纹 (紋) Pron: wén Main radical: 纟 Meaning: line, streak, stripe; wrinkle Examples: 皱纹 (wrinkle), 条纹 (stripe), 指纹 (fingerprint) 紊 Pron: wěn, wèn Main radical: 糸 Meaning: confused, involved, tangled, disorder (wěn), involved, tangled (wèn) Examples: 紊乱 (disorder) 芠 Pron: wén Main radical: 艹 Meaning: (old. lit. for a sort of grass) 妏 Pron: wén Main radical: 女 Meaning: (old female name) 魰 Pron: wén Radical: 魚 Meaning: flying fish 彣 Pron: wén Main radical: 彡 Meaning: literary talent 抆 Pron: wěn, wèn Main radical:扌 Meaning: wipe, rub off 玟 Pron: wén, mín, méi Main radical: 王 Meaning: streaks in jade, gem 玟 Pron: wén, mín, méi Main radical: 王 Meaning: jade-like stone (mín), veins in jade (wén) 忞 Pron: mín, mǐn Main radical: 心 Meaning: strive to become stronger 砇 Pron: mín Main radical: 石 Meaning: (old version of 玟: jade-like stone)