Meaning / meaning compounds

These are characters which convey ideas and concepts by combining two or more pictographs. You may sometimes see them referred to as associative compounds.

女 (woman) ＋ 子 (child) ＝ 好 (good)

日 (sun) ＋ 月 (moon) ＝ 明 (bright)

木 (tree) ＋木 (tree) ＝林 (forest)

木 (tree) ＋ 日 (sun) ＝ 東 (east – you see the sun through the branches of the trees when it rises in the east)

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