Character Lesson 11 – Components of Chinese Characters

LESSON NOTES

Components of Chinese Characters

A lot of Chinese Characters can be divided in to different parts. These parts are called Components 部件 (Bùjiàn).

Components are the most basic constructional units of Chinese characters, because if we want to break a Component into smaller parts, we only get single strokes.

While Strokes are the basic constructional units of Components, Components are the basic constructional units of characters.

Character Components and Non-Character Components

There are two kinds of Components, depending on whether the Component itself is an independent Character.

Character Components

the ones that can be used as independent characters are called Character Components 成字部件 (Chéngzì Bùjiàn), literally means “complete character component”.

Non-Character Components

The ones that are not independent characters, are called Non-Character Components 不成字部件 (Bùchéngzì Bùjiàn), literally “incomplete character component”.

Simple Characters and Compound Characters

There are also two types of Chinese Characters, depending on whether the character can be divided into smaller Components.

Compound Characters

Chinese Characters that can be divided into smaller Components are called Compound Characters 合体字 (Hétǐzì).

Simple Characters

And second, the ones that cannot be divided into smaller parts, they are called Simple Characters 独体字 (Dútǐzì).