Cracking the Code: How to Easily Remember Chinese Characters Part 2 | 钅, 釒, 木, 火, 土
Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel, Oriental Marco Polo! This is Pedro.
This is a part of a series, it is about “The magical LEGO Structure of Chinese Characters.”
It is Part Two.
If you haven’t caught up on the previous episode in this series, you can click this link: Cracking the Code: How to Easily Remember Chinese Characters Part 1 | 冫，氵，灬
In the last episode, we discussed how Chinese characters are like Tetris blocks or LEGO pieces. They are built from several standard components.
As shown in the animation below:
Standard components like these are assembled into individual Chinese characters. Once you recognize these standard components, you can quickly remember the characters — and even guess their rough meanings.
So, don’t try to memorize Chinese characters stroke by stroke. Instead, think of them as made up of small building blocks, usually two or three, that combine to form the full character. This will make learning Chinese way easier!
Today, we will continue to talk about some particularly interesting standard components: 「 钅」,「釒」,「木」,「火」,「土」.
In ancient Greek philosophy, it was believed that everything is made up of four material elements: earth, air, water, and fire.
Coincidentally, in China, within our own Taoist philosophy, there is a similar concept, which holds that the world is composed of five basic elements: 金（metal）, 木（wood）, 水（water）, 火（fire）, and 土（earth）, known as the ‘Five Elements Theory’, in Chinese: “五行说” /Wǔxíng shuō/。
In Chinese philosophy, each of these five basic elements also has corresponding standard components or so-called “radicals”:
金 Metal — 「 钅」 or 「釒」
木 Tree/Wood — 「木」
水 Water — 「冫」, 「氵」, 「灬」
火 Fire — 「火」
土 Earth/Soil — 「土」
Let’s first take a look at “金” (jīn) — Metal:
First of all, here’s another interesting question: How and why does the character “金” represent metal?
As shown in this above image, when ancient Chinese people smelted iron, they would pour the molten iron from a container into a casting mold, where it would take the shape of a Chinese ancient axe. This scene was recorded by the pictographic character “金”.
Later, “金” came to broadly represent all metals.
The standard components for “金” (metal) comes into:
「 钅」 or 「釒」.
The form on the left is the simplified version, while the one on the right is the traditional version.
The traditional radical「釒」is quite intuitive because it hasn’t changed — it’s directly based on the original character “金”.
But how did the simplified radical 「 钅」 come about?
You see this “金” character evolution spectrum.
On the life side, this is what “金” looked like in the Bronze Script, so-called “金文” (approximately 3300 years ago).
In the middle left, this is “金” in the Seal Script, so-called “篆书” (approximately 2200–2500 years ago).
In the middle right, this is “金” in the Clerical Script, so-called “隶书” (approximately 1900–2100 years ago).
And on the right side, this is “金” in the Regular Script, so-called “楷书”. “楷书” as the official and standard mainstream writing style, has been in use until today.
You can see that the these versions of “金” closely resembles standard component 「 钅」, especially the left two versions.
By the way, if you’re interested in the evolution and development of ancient Chinese characters throughout different dynasties, you can check out this video of mine: Culture | How beautiful is Chinese calligraphy?!
So, it’s very straightforward: any Chinese character that contains the standard component 「 钅」 or 「釒」 is, to some extent, related to metal.
For example, let’s take a look:
(↓ The form on the left is the simplified version, while the one on the right is the traditional version. ↓)
- 银 — 銀 (yín) — silver
- 铜 — 銅 (tóng) — copper
- 铁 — 鐵 (tiě) — iron
- 锡 — 錫 (xī) — tin
- 铅 — 鉛 (qiān) — lead
- 钱 — 錢 (qián) — coins
Ancient Chinese coins were made of copper, so money naturally belongs to the 「 钅」family.
- 镜 — 鏡 (jìng) — mirror
In ancient China, mirrors were made of copper. We can see it this picture:
- 钟 — 鍾 (zhōng) — bell
Ancient Chinese bells looked like this below and were also made of copper as well, resembling a large trumpet.
- 锁 — 鎖 (suǒ) — lock.
Locks in ancient China were mostly made of bronze, and sometimes silver and gold were also used. We can take a look at the following image：
Very simple, uhm?
When we look at this 「 钅」或 「釒」 from this perspective, you will find it much easier and more funny to remember all the characters from this 「 钅」或 「釒」 family. From now on, whenever you see a character with this standard component 「 钅」或 「釒」, you will no longer feel strange, and you can pretty much guess it has something to do with metal.
Then, let’s look at the next basic element: “木” (mù) — Tree/Wood
As you can see from the following image, “木” is also a pictographic character. From the very beginning, in the oldest Chinese characters, “木” resembled a young sapling or tree. Over time, it evolved into the modern form: “木”.
The standard component for “木” is simply: 「木」.
It’s easy to see that most characters containing the 「木」 standard component are related to trees or plants or wood.
For example:
- 树 (shù): a tree
- 林 (lín): a small forest or grove
- 森 (sēn): a large forest
- 材 (cái): after trees are cut down, they become timber (木材 mùcái)
- 机 (jī): machine, as many ancient Chinese machines were made of wood, like looms.
- 朵 (duǒ): a flower blossom
- 李 (lǐ): plum
- 梨 (lí): pear
Various Types of Trees:
- 杏 (xìng): apricot blossom
- 杉 (shān): water fir
- 松 (sōng): pine tree
- 柏 (bǎi): cypress tree
- 楠 (nán): nanmu tree
- 椴 (duàn): linden tree
- 橡 (xiàng): oak tree
- 枫 (fēng): maple tree
- 桦 (huà): birch tree
- 本 (běn): Look, this character shows a mark at the root of a tree (木), symbolizing the root, origin, or most important part of something.
- 末 (mò): This character shows a mark at the top of a tree (木), representing the tip of a tree or its branches. In modern Chinese, “末” not only refers to the last part of something but can also imply something small or insignificant.
- 采 (cǎi): verb. The top part represents a hand, and the bottom part represents fruits, flowers or plants. So, the meaning of this character is “to pick fruits, flowers, or tree branches.”
When we look at this 「木」 from this perspective, you will find it much easier and more funny to remember all the characters from this 「木」 family. From now on, whenever you see a character with this standard component 「木」, You will no longer feel strange, and you can pretty much guess it has something to do with trees, plants, or wood.
The next basic element is “水” (shuǐ)- Water.
The standard components related to “水” (shuǐ)- Water are: 「冫」,「 氵」, and 「灬」. They each resemble small water droplets.
For this part, I’ve already explained them in a previous article: Cracking the Code: How to Easily Remember Chinese Characters Part 1 | 冫，氵，灬
Next, let’s talk about the following basic element: “火”(huǒ) — Fire.
As you can see from this character’s evolution chart below, it’s very clear that “火” is a typical pictographic character as well. From the very beginning, it resembled a flame, and eventually evolved into its current form: “火”.
The standard component symbolizing fire is 「火」, the same as the character itself, and characters that contain this standard component are all related to fire.
For example:
- 灯 (dēng): In ancient China, lamps were lit by igniting oil with fire for illumination.
- 燃 (rán): To ignite a fire.
- 烧 (shāo): The state of burning.
燃烧 (rán shāo): These two characters are often used together to mean “burning” or “combustion”. - 炮 (pào): Cannon.
- 炉 (lú): Stove or furnace.
- 灭 (miè): To extinguish a fire. Look at this character — it describes the act of pouring a handful of dirt or a basin of water over a fire to put it out.
- 焰 (yàn): Flame.
- 炎 (yán): To blaze flames or it means very hot.
Different Cooking Methods:
- 炒 (chǎo): Stir-fry
- 炖 (dùn): Stew
- 烤 (kǎo): Grill
- 炸 (zhá): Deep-fry
- 烩 (huì): Braise or simmer in sauce
- 熘 (liū): Quick-fry with thick gravy
- 焗 (jú): Bake or casserole
- 烘 (hōng): Roast
When we look at this 「火」 from this perspective, you will find it much easier and more funny to remember all the characters from this 「火」family. From now on, whenever you see a character with this standard component 「火」, You will no longer feel strange, and you can pretty much guess it has something to do with fire.
And then, let’s talk about the last basic element: “土” (tǔ) — Earth/Soil.
You see, in the above picture, this is a mound of earth. The character “土” also takes this form to symbolize earth or soil.
The standard component for earth is simply: 「土」, likewise, straightforwardly repeats itself.
In Chinese, characters containing the 「土」 standard component usually refer to things related to land, buildings, or geographical features.
For example:
- 地 (dì): Refers to land or ground. For example, “大地” (the earth), “地方” (place).
- 垣 (yuán): Refers to a low wall or fence. The oldest walls were built by piling up earth.
- 坊 (fāng): In ancient China, this referred to residential areas within a city.
- 场 (chǎng): Refers to open spaces or places where people gather and play, such as “场地” (venue).
- 城 (chéng): Refers to the fortified walls around a city, and by extension, the city itself. For example, “城市” (city), “城墙” (city wall).
- 壁 (bì): Refers to a wall, especially a hard or sturdy one. For example, “墙壁” (wall).
- 堤 (dī): Refers to an elevated earth or stone structure built along a riverbank to prevent flooding, similar to a dike. For example, “河堤” (riverbank), “海堤” (seawall).
- 坪 (píng): Refers to flat grassland or a plaza.
- 塘 (táng): Refers to a pond created by excavating earth, often used for fish farming or irrigation. For example, “鱼塘” (fish pond), “水塘” (water pond), “池塘” (pond).
When we look at this 「土」 from this perspective, you will find it much easier and more funny to remember all the characters from this 「土」family. From now on, whenever you see a character with this standard component 「土」, You will no longer feel strange, and you can pretty much guess it has something to do with land or buildings.
After looking at the 5 basic elements, let’s take a look at an interesting character: 灶.
On the left, we have the 「火」 (fire) standard component, and on the right, the 「土」 (earth/soil) standard component. It combines both the fire and earth elements. So, what is it?
This is the ancient Chinese stove! In ancient Chinese kitchens, the cooking area looked like this: a platform made of earth with a hole underneath for adding firewood to keep the fire going. Therefore, the Chinese character “灶” directly combines the elements of fire and earth to express the meaning of stove. Isn’t it a vivid representation?!
Moreover, let’s take a look at something even more interesting. Just like LEGO, not only can different standard pieces be combined and assembled, but the same standard pieces can also be stacked on top of each other. This is also true in Chinese characters.
You see, when we take the characters/standard components for 金（metal）, 木（wood）, 水（water）, 火（fire）, and 土（earth）, copy each of them three times, and stack them together, they look like a pyramid:
- Three 「金」(metal) characters placed side by side form the character “鑫” (xīn), which is commonly used to symbolize wealth and the accumulation of money.
- Three 「木」 (wood/tree) characters form “森” (sēn), which means a dense forest.
- Three 「水」 (water) characters form “淼” (miǎo), describing a vast body of water.
- Three 「火」 (fire) characters form “焱” (yàn), referring to brightness, flames, or an intense blaze.
- Three 「土」 (earth/soil) characters form “垚” (yáo), used to describe tall mountains or large mounds of earth.
So, it’s very clear: the more characters/standard components are stacked, the deeper the meaning becomes! This perfectly aligns with our intuition. Isn’t it fascinating? Chinese characters are like building blocks from our childhood!
Note:
Many examples have appeared above. Don’t feel pressured! You absolutely don’t need to master everything at once. All of these examples are just to give you a sense of how things work, a unique perspective and method, so that next time you come across these standard components, they won’t feel unfamiliar or intimidating. You’ll be able to remember new characters more quickly. And that’s the goal! Learning should be enjoyable, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Don’t expect to memorize all of these characters — that’s absolutely unnecessary. As I always say, I’m a pragmatist: learn what you need when you need it.
So that’s what I want to share with you today about the five basic elements in Chinese Taoist philosophy: 金（metal）, 木（wood）, 水（water）, 火（fire）, and 土（earth）, their corresponding standard components, and the Chinese characters that contain these standard components.
Standard components are just like English suffixes and prefixes, they give the direction to the meaning of Chinese characters which contain them.
I hope this trick helps you understand and remember Chinese characters from these families more effectively. Instead of learning Chinese characters in isolation or disconnected from one another. we could remember and study them in clusters, groups or as a family — this way, you’ll get twice the results with half the effort!
And that’s all for this episode, if you enjoy this article, please give it a like, subscribe to my channel, and share it with your friends. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you find particularly difficult during learning Chinese. I’ll help you tackle it! I firmly believe that for every challenge, there’s always a solution/solutions!
Thanks a lot for your support, and see you next time! Ciao~ Ciao~
