Sound / meaning compounds

Also called pictophonetic compounds, these make up the majority of Chinese characters. Here, a single character is made up of two or more parts, one of which gives a clue to what the character sounds like when it is read aloud, and the other parts giving a clue to the meaning.

木 (means: tree) ＋ 风 (pronounced: feng) ＝ 枫 (means maple tree, pronounced feng)

女 (means: woman) ＋马 (pronounced: ma) ＝ 妈 (means mother, pronounced ma)

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