How to find a character you don't know? Keys of Japanese characters Search for characters using Chinese keys

Why are keys needed?

In order to find a word from European languages in the dictionary, it is enough to arm yourself with a good dictionary and find the desired word by its initial letters. We can't do this with Japanese words because of the hieroglyphic system. The most common dictionaries are dictionaries compiled according to the key system. What to do in this case? How to find the right one among thousands of squiggles?

The mandatory minimum of characters that you need to know to live in Japan includes 2136 kanji. At first glance, it may seem that hieroglyphs are a chaotic collection of sticks and lines, the order of which can only be remembered by an exceptional mind. It's actually not that scary. Each, even the most unimaginable hieroglyph, can be decomposed into several simple symbols. Such simple symbols will be the keys, or in Japanese 部首bushyu. That is, the key is a graphic sign that helps to classify and find a hieroglyph in the dictionary.

Some keys, also called radicals, can be independent hieroglyphs, such as the keys “man” 人, “heart” 心 or “hand” 手. Sometimes knowing the meaning of the keys helps you remember the meaning of the kanji. For example, the character 休, which means “rest”, “to rest”, consists of the keys “person” and “tree”. While working in the field, people rest (where?) under a tree. Or another example - the hieroglyph “cheap” 安 consists of the elements “woman” and “roof”. Women under a roof are cheap. But this method is not appropriate in all cases. Sometimes you have to memorize abstract concepts.

Often, without knowing the meaning of the kanji itself, you can guess what area the symbol may be from. For example, characters with the radical “fish” 魚 will most likely mean the names of fish (鮭salmon, 鯨whale), with the key “water” 氵 - everything related to water: 　泳 (swim)、池 (pond). But it is necessary to remember one feature that sometimes a Chinese character was assigned to a Japanese word “just like that”, meaninglessly, also the Japanese “invented” 70 of their own characters, so it is still better to clarify the meanings of kanji in the dictionary.

There are a total of 214 keys, which are located in the key table. Each key is assigned its own number. Many people recommend memorizing the number of radicals in order to quickly find the desired hieroglyph. In our opinion, there is no need to sit and cram all 214 keys at once. They will be memorized gradually while reading texts and looking up words in the dictionary. After some time of regular study of Japanese, you will be able to easily recognize keys in unfamiliar kanji and count strokes.

Hieroglyphs can have one or several keys. In the dictionary, radicals are arranged in order of increasing strokes from one to seventeen.

Keys are divided into strong and weak. If the element is always or almost always a key, then it is a strong key (for example, “fire” 火), and weak keys are often not keys　 (for example, “inch” 寸).

Rules for determining the key in a hieroglyph.

When searching for a hieroglyph, the most important thing is to determine which element is the key. There are some recommendations for this:

1) First you need to make sure that the hieroglyph itself is not a key by counting the features. And if kanji is not the key, then you can safely move on to the next points.

2) If a complex hieroglyph consists of two elements, one of which is on the right and the other on the left, then most likely the key will be the left element. If you did not find the left element in the key table, then the right one will be the key.

3) If in a hieroglyph consisting of two elements, one of them covers the other from several sides, then the key is often the covering element.

4) If in a complex hieroglyph consisting of two elements, one of which is at the top and the other at the bottom, then you need to look for the top one first.

5) After you have found the key, you can start searching for the hieroglyph by the number of features.

But it should be remembered that at first, searching for keys will take a lot of time, and the correct identification of the key will come with experience. Ideally, you need to know the entire key table to quickly and accurately find the key.

How keys are located in hieroglyphs.

Depending on their position, the keys have their own names. Below we give examples with different key positions

Nin-ben (human)

亻. 仕、休、代、住、体、作、何、伝

Tsuti-ben (earth)

土. 地、場、塩、増

Onna – hen (woman)

女. 妹、姉、姫、娘、婚、嫁

Gyōnin - ben (walking man)

彳. 役、彼、待、後、徒、得、復

Rissin-ben (heart)

忄. 情、快、怖、性

Te-hen (hand)

扌. 打、持、指、払

Ki-hen (tree)

木. 村、材、松、林、校

Tsukuri

刀. 刊、判、別、利、副

Akubi (slit)

欠. 次、歌、歓

Kanmuri

U-kanmuri (crown)

宀. 守、安、完、宇、宙、定、宝、実、室

Take-kanmuri (bamboo)

竹. 笑、第、筆、等、算

Kusa-kanmuri (herb)

艹. 花、若、英、茶、草

Ashi

Hitoashi (human feet)

儿. 元、兄、先、光、党

Kokoro (heart)

心. 思、急、息、悲、意、悪、感

Tare

Shikabane (flag)

尸. 尼、尾、局、居、届、屋

Ma-dare (cliff with a point)

广. 広、床、底、店、府、度、庫、庭

Nyō

Shin-shyō (road)

辵. 返、近、辺、通、連、週、道

En-nyō (wide step)

Kamae

Kuni-kamae (box)

囗. 困、団、囲、図、国、園

Mongamae (gate)

門. 開、間、関、閉

The order of writing hieroglyphs.

Rules for writing graphic elements:

when drawing a hieroglyph, you need to imagine that you are writing it in a square;
The hieroglyph must be written from top to bottom and from left to right;
horizontal lines are written first (always from left to right)
vertical and inclined are written from top to bottom;
if a hieroglyph has a central, right and left part, then the central part should be written first
the enclosing element is written first
vertical lines crossing the hieroglyph in the center are written last
When counting features, it is necessary to remember that one feature is taken to be an element written together by hand, and not the printed form of the hieroglyph. For example, in the key “field” 田 there are not 6 strokes, but 5, since the top and right walls are written in one movement.

List of hieroglyphic keys.

一(いち) one
2. 丨 (ぼう) rod, rod
3. 丶 (てん) dot
4. 丿 (てん) NO-kana
5. 乙 (おつ) fish hook
6. 亅 (はねぼう) thorn, thorn, mustache

二(に) two
8. 亠 (なべぶた) cover
9. 人 (ひと) person
10. 儿 (にんにょう) human legs
11. 入 (いる) to enter
12. 八 (はちがしら) eight
13. 冂 (まきがまえ) showcase, counter
14. 冖 (わかんむり) crown
15. 冫 (にすい) water drops
16. 几 (つくえ) table
17. 凵 (うけばこ) open box
18. 刀 (かたな) sword
19. 力 (ちから) strength
20. 勹 (つつみがまえ) to wrap, to wrap
21. 匕 (さじのひ) spoon
22. 匚 (はこがまえ) box with an open side
23. 匸 (かくしがまえ) hide
24. 十 (じゅう) cross
25. 卜 (ぼくのと) magic wand
26. 卩 (ふしづくり) seal
27. 厂 (がんだれ) cliff
28. 厶 (む) I
29. 又 (また) in addition, in this case

口(くち) mouth
31. 囗 (くにがまえ) box
32. 土 (つち) earth, soil
33. 士 (さむらい) samurai
34. 夂 (ふゆがしら) winter, start
35. 夊 (すい) to drag one's feet
36. 夕 (ゆうべ) evening
37. 大 (だい) big
38. 女 (おんな)woman
39. 子 (こ) child
40. 宀 (うかんむり) crown
41. 寸 (すん) glue
42. 小 (ちいさい) small
43. 尢 (まげあし) curved “big”
44. 尸 (しかばね) flag
45. 屮 (てつ) old grass
46. 山 (やま) mountain
47. 巛 (まがりがわ) curved “river”
48. 工 (たくみ) skill, worker
49. 己 (おのれ) snake
50. 巾 (はば) clothes
51. 干 (はす) dry
52. 幺 (いとがしら) short thread
53. 广 (まだれ) cliff with a dot
54. 廴 (いんにょう) wide step
55. 廾 (にじゅうあし) twenty
56. 弋 (しきがまえ) ceremony
57. 弓 (ゆみ) bow (weapon)
58. ヨ (けいがしら) pig's head
59. 彡 (さんづくり) bun
60. 彳 (ぎょうにんべん) walking person

心(りっしんべん) heart
62. 戈 (かのほこ) halberd
63. 戸 (とびらのと) door
64. 手 (て) hand
65. 支 (しんよう) branch
66. 攴 (ぼくづくり) folding chair
67. 文 (ぶんにょう) sentence, phrase
68. 斗 (とます) ladle, scoop
69. 斤 (おの) ax
70. 方 (ほう) side, direction
71. 无 (むにょう) curved “paradise”
72. 日 (にち) sun
73. 曰 (にち) flat sun
74. 月 (つき) moon
75. 木 (き) tree
76. 欠 (あくび) gap, space
77. 止 (とめる) stop
78. 歹 (がつへん) death
79. 殳 (ほこつくり) windy again
80. 毋 (なかれ) mother
81. 比 (くらべるひ) running race
82. 毛 (け) wool
83. 氏 (うじ) clan
84. 气 (きがまえ) spirit
85. 水 (みず) water
86. 火 (ひ) fire
87. 爪 (つめ) claw
88. 父 (ちち) father
89. 爻 (めめ) double X
90. 爿 (しょうへん) left-handed “stencil”
91. 片 (かた) one-sided stencil
92. 牙 (きばへん) fang
93. 牛 (うし) cow
94. 犬 (いぬ) dog
96. 王 (おう) king

玄(げん) mysterious
96. 玉 (うし) jewel
97. 瓜 (うり) watermelon
98. 瓦 (かわら) tiles
99. 甘 (あまい) sweet
100.生 (うまれる) life
101. 用 (もちいる) use
102. 田 (た) rice field
103. 疋 (ひき) strength
104. 疔 (やまいだれ) disease
105. 癶 (はつがしら) “tent” with dots
106. 白 (しろ) white
107. 皮 (けがわ) hide
108. 皿 (さら) plate
109. 目 (め) eye
110. 矛 (むのほこ) halberd
111. 矢 (や) arrow
112. 石 (いし) stone
113. 示 (しめす) show, indicate
114. 禹 (うのあし) MU in a box
115. 禾 (のぎ) tree with two branches
116. 穴 (あな) gap, cut
117. 立 (たつ) stand

竹(たけ) bamboo
119. 米 (こめ) rice
120. 糸 (いと) thread
121. 缶 (ほとぎ) can, watering can
122. 网 (あみがしら) network
123. 羊 (ひつじ) sheep
124. 羽 (はね) feathers
125. 老 (おい) old man
126. 而 (しかして) rake
127. 耒 (らいすき) tree with three branches
128. 耳 (みみ) ear
129. 聿 (ふでづくり) writing brush
130. 肉 (にく) meat
131. 臣 (しん) vassal
132. 自 (みずから) yourself
133. 至 (いたる) highest point, culmination
134. 臼 (うす) mortar
135. 舌 (した) language
136. 舛 (ます) dance
137. 舟 (ふね) ship
138. 艮 (うしとら) good
139. 色 (いろ) color
140. 艸 (くさ) grass
141. 虍 (とらかんむり) tiger
142. 虫 (むし) insect
143. 血 (ち) blood
144. 行 (ぎょう) go
145. 衣 (ころも) clothes
146. 襾 (にし) west

見(みる) see
148. 角 (つの) corner, horn
149. 言 (ことば) speak
150. 谷 (たに) valley
151. 豆 (まめ) bean
152. 豕 (いのこ) pig
153. 豸 (むじな) badger
154. 貝 (かい) sea shell
155. 赤 (あか) red
156. 走 (はしる) to run
157. 足 (あし) leg
158. 身 (み) body
159. 車 (くるま) wheel
160. 辛 (からい) spicy
161. 辰 (しんのたつ) dragon
162. 辷 (しんにゅう) road
163. 邑 (むら) village
164. 酉 (ひよみのとり) sake
165. 釆 (のごめ) dice
166. 里 (さと) village

金(かね) metal
168. 長 (ながい) long
169. 門 (もん) gate
170. 阜 (ぎふのふ) village
171. 隶 (れいづくり) slave
172. 隹 (ふるとり) old bird
173. 雨 (あめ) rain
174. 青 (あう) green, blue
175. 非 (あらず) injustice

面(めん) surface
177. 革 (かくのかわ) leather
178. 韋 (なめしがわ) burnt skin
179. 韭 (にら) leek
180. 音 (おと) sound
181. 頁 (おおがい) head
182. 風 (かぜ) wind
183. 飛 (とぶ) to fly
184. 食 (しよく) food
185. 首 (くび) neck
186. 香 (においこう) smell

馬(うま) horse
188. 骨 (ほね) bone
189. 高 (たかい) high
190. 髟 (かみがしら) long hair
191. 鬥 (とうがまえ) broken gate
192. 鬯 (ちよう) aromatic herbs
193. 鬲 (かく) tripod
194. 鬼 (おに) demon

魚(うお) fish
196. 鳥 (とり) bird
197. 鹵 (ろ) salt
198. 鹿 (しか) deer
199. 麥 (むぎ) wheat
200. 麻 (あさ) flax

黄(きいろ) yellow
202. 黍 (きび) millet
203. 黒 (くろ) black
204. 黹 (ふつ) sew
205. 黽 (べん) green frog
206. 鼎 (かなえ) teapot with three legs
207. 鼓 (つづみ) drumming
208. 鼠 (ねずみ) mouse

鼻(はな) nose
210. 齊 (せい) equal

齒(は)tooth

龍(りゅう) dragon
213. 龜 (かめ) turtle

龠(やく) flute

How to learn all these Japanese characters keys? We invite you to familiarize yourself with ours, and our main course will help you consolidate your knowledge.

This question interests everyone who has already had at least a little experience with the study of Chinese characters. After all, it is quite logical that in a text in Chinese there may be a word whose reading you do not know. What to do then? How to find out the pronunciation and translation of an unfamiliar hieroglyph? The answer suggests itself - look it up in the dictionary.

There are several ways to search for a word in the Chinese-Russian dictionary. Let's look at the most classic of them, search “by key”. For example, you don’t know how to read the hieroglyph “ 均 ”.

Searching for a hieroglyph in a dictionary is significantly different from the process of searching for a word in a dictionary, for example, in English. If in the English-Russian dictionary we just need to find an unfamiliar term based on the alphabetical arrangement of the letters in it, then in the Chinese-Russian dictionary we need to carry out three steps before getting to reading and translating an unfamiliar hieroglyph.

So, the first thing you need to do is highlight the main key in the hieroglyph. Usually the main key is located either on the left or at the top of the hieroglyph. However, there are exceptions to this rule. The secret to accurately identifying the main key in a hieroglyph is still practice. Over time, identifying the main part becomes easier and easier.

In our example, the main key will be 土 “ Earth".

Here we cannot fail to mention that we should not neglect either the order of writing the features in the hieroglyph or their number. In truth, you often want to write a hieroglyph in a way that seems logical, and not in a way that many rules dictate. Sometimes it’s tempting to draw 口 with one line, and 回 with two, for example, a square and another square.
However, such disregard for writing rules can have costly consequences in the future. The keys in a table that opens many dictionaries are arranged in order of increasing strokes, and 口 will be placed in a row with keys that have three strokes, not just one.
Without knowing the number of features in the key, you will have to spend much more time searching for an unfamiliar word in the dictionary.

So, having determined how many traits are in the main key, you need to find it in the key index table. Here it is worth noting that the numbers indicating the number of features in the main key are traditionally indicated in the table with hieroglyphs. That is, under the number 一（yī one） all keys in which there is only one line are located, under the number 二 (èr two) keys in which there are two strokes and so on.

There are two numbers to the right and left of each key in the index. The number on the left indicates the number under which hieroglyphs with a given key sign (in our case, “earth”) are located in the “hieroglyphic index” table. The number on the right indicates the dictionary page on which all hieroglyphs with a given key are located (the fact is that the “hieroglyphic index” table can be quite voluminous and the page number helps to navigate it faster).

In our case, all hieroglyphs with the sign “earth” are located on page 15 under number 49.

After we have opened the desired page and found the number we are interested in, the following task arises:
– count the number of lines in the remaining part of the hieroglyph (the number of lines of the key no longer needs to be counted). In hieroglyph 均 on its right side there are four lines.
Now we need to find the hieroglyph we need in the second tablet “hieroglyphic index”. In this table, the hieroglyphs are also arranged in increasing order of the number of strokes; our hieroglyph will be under the number 四 (sì four).

Having found our hieroglyph, we finally get the page number on which it can be found in the dictionary, see the reading and translation. Hieroglyph 均 found on page 495 of the dictionary.

Our hieroglyph reads jūn and translates as “equal, even, equally.”

You can safely skip the first two steps if you know how to read a hieroglyph, but don’t know how it is translated.
All characters are arranged in the dictionary in alphabetical order of their Pinyin transcription. That is, first come all the hieroglyphs, the reading of which begins with “a”, then “b” and so on.
Good luck to everyone in finding unfamiliar hieroglyphs!

Structure of hieroglyphs.

According to the method of formation, hieroglyphs are of the following types:
pictographic, ideographic, phonographic.
Pictographic hieroglyphs are the simplest hieroglyphs. In them we can find an echo of the shape of the denoting object, for example, 口，心，日。

Ideographic characters consist of two simple characters, such as 信.

Phonographic hieroglyphs consist of a key and a phonetic. The key conveys the distant meaning of the hieroglyph (or rather, even the group to which the hieroglyph relates), while the phonetician conveys the sound of the hieroglyph and does not carry the meaning.
Most often, the key is located on the left, above and below the hieroglyph, and the phonetic is on the right, but variations are possible.
For example, the character 枝 branch consists of the key "tree" and the phonetic "zhi".
About 80% of Chinese characters are phonographic.
There are a total of 214 keys in the Chinese language. It is absolutely not necessary to know them all by heart, but it is advisable to remember the most frequently encountered ones.

List of the most common Chinese character keys:

List of some phonetics:

寸 possible readings: cun
小 possible readings: sun, xiao
每 possible readings: mei
羊 possible readings: yang, xian
银 possible readings: yan, yin, hen, gen.
重 possible readings: tuan, zhong
谁 possible readings: shei, shui, tui

Why do we need to know basic keys and phonetics?
Keys are necessary for at least an approximate understanding of the meaning, which makes it possible to guess the meaning of the word.
We may need phonetics in situations where we need to guess the pronunciation of a word. This may also be useful when we need to find a word in the dictionary, but we cannot use the search by style. For example, we need to find out the meaning of the character: 银. From the key you can understand that the word has something to do with metal. The phonetic can be read as yan, yin, hen, gen. Looking through these combinations, we can easily find the word 银 - yín silver.

EXERCISES
1) Name the meaning of the key and accordingly guess the semantic category of the hieroglyph

洋
key - water, meaning - ocean
钱
key - metal, meaning - “money”
惊
key - heart, meaning - get scared
热
key - fire, meaning - “hot”
筷
key - bamboo, meaning - “chopsticks”
馆
key - food, meaning - "restaurant"
让
key - speech, meaning - “give in”

2) Guess the possible pronunciation of the hieroglyph using phonetics:

跟
possible pronunciations phonetics: yan, yin, hen, gen. Pronunciation of the character: gēn
鲜
possible pronunciations phonetics: yang, xian. Character pronunciation: xiān
畽
possible pronunciations phonetics: tuan, zhong. Character pronunciation: tuǎn
梅
possible pronunciations phonetics: mei. Character pronunciation: mei
脽
possible pronunciations phonetics: shei, shui, tui. Character pronunciation: tuǐ
忖
possible pronunciations phonetics: cun. Character pronunciation: cǔn
锺
possible pronunciations phonetics: tuan, zhong. Character pronunciation: zhōng
洋
possible pronunciations phonetics: yang, xian. Character pronunciation: yáng
推
possible pronunciations phonetics: shei, shui, tui. Pronunciation of the character: tuī

I'll start with the fact that search for characters in a Chinese dictionary is fundamentally different from searching for unfamiliar words in any European language dictionary. What does this look like in theory?

Depending on the dictionary, the search for a hieroglyph is carried out either by keys or by the main line in the hieroglyph. In one case, we first need to find the key, which is the main one in the hieroglyph, and then search for all the hieroglyphs that contain this key and, based on the number of remaining lines (i.e., minus the number of lines that make up the key itself), search for the hieroglyph we need . Only after this you will be able to look at the reading and meaning of the hieroglyph (as for reading, this is also not everywhere, in many Russian-Chinese dictionaries only the writing of the hieroglyph is given, reading is not given).

It sounds unclear. Let's try to find the hieroglyph in the dictionary by keys.
For example, this one – 挂

I will illustrate all my steps with photographs in order to demonstrate as clearly as possible to people just starting to learn Chinese how it is done.

2. We determine the main key in the hieroglyph, by which we will look for it in the dictionary, and count how many features it consists of. The main key in a hieroglyph can be located on the left or on top. When the search for new hieroglyphs becomes part of your life as a daily activity, you can easily determine the main key just by looking at the hieroglyph. If you have identified it incorrectly, do not despair - look carefully at the hieroglyph again and find another key.

In this case, we determined that the main key is the “hand” key (more about the names of the keys in the article “Keys in Chinese characters”), and that it consists of three strokes. We open the table of keys in the dictionary and look at the keys consisting of three traits.

We find the key we need there. The keys in this table are arranged in ascending order of the number of traits in the key. You'll have to learn counting to 10 in Chinese to understand this, although everything is very clear there. In photo 1 it is in the central column at number 53 and next to it is the page (underlined) in the detailed table of keys with hieroglyphs where it is located - page 346. 3. Open a detailed table of keys with hieroglyphs (as a rule, it is always located after the table of keys described in point 2)

4. Now let's open page 346 and find the key number 53 - this will be the same key that we saw in the table of keys (point 2), see photo 2. 5. Under this key are the hieroglyphs in which this key is found. Hieroglyphs are arranged in ascending order of the number of features, minus the number of features that make up the key itself (in this case, 3). That is, what we need to do: count the total number of traits in the hieroglyph (together with the key) - we get 9 traits.

Now we subtract from 9 the number of strokes that make up the key (3 strokes) and get the result - 6. It is this number that we need to look for in the detailed table of keys with hieroglyphs under key number 53. (in Chinese 6 will be 六 liù) - results search with comments are shown in photo 2).

6. Under number 6 (六) are all hieroglyphs consisting of 6 strokes, not taking into account the number of strokes in the key by which we are searching. From this entire list we need to find our hieroglyph. Searching is very simple - look and find. Next to it will be the page number (already directly in the dictionary). In this case 85.

7. Open page 85 of the Chinese-Russian dictionary and find the desired character on this page. We see how it is read (guà) and how it is translated (hang, hang, attach, etc.) - see the last photo. 8. The search is over. Well done!

Note:
In the table of keys with hieroglyphs, at the very end there is a section that includes hieroglyphs that are not included in any of the other sections. That is, it is useless to search for them by keys - they are presented only here. It is advisable to familiarize yourself with the hieroglyphs presented there, so that if you encounter one of them in the text, you do not waste time searching for it using the key, but immediately turn to this section (see photo on the left - section 221)

I tried to describe this in as much detail as possible. I apologize if it turned out very boring, I would have been glad to have such a detailed description when I first started learning Chinese, but I didn’t have it.

The above way to search for a hieroglyph refers to Chinese language dictionaries, in which the search is carried out by keys.

Now, using the example of the same hieroglyph, let’s look at searching in another type of dictionary - by traits.

In such dictionaries hieroglyphs are arranged in the order of the graphic system. The initial element of this system of arrangement of hieroglyphs is the lower right corner or the descending prominent line of the hieroglyph. You can read more about this in the dictionary itself - in the section called “about constructing a dictionary.”

Well, let's start searching for this character - 挂.

1. We determined that the main feature in the hieroglyph is considered to be “一”，We open the index to search for hieroglyphs in the dictionary, we found this main feature there (it’s at the very beginning), then we look at section 1, group 1 - and there we find hieroglyph number 27, forming the right side of our desired hieroglyph (see photo).

2. Open page 27 of the dictionary. At the top there is a line with hieroglyphs. We were lucky, and in this line we see the hieroglyph we were looking for (see photo).
3. This means that this hieroglyph is hiding from us on this page. Let's find it and find out its meaning. And we also get a whole nest of phrases where this hieroglyph is used.

I can say on my own behalf that I do not like to use the described dictionary. It often happens that I cannot correctly determine the line. But for some, this dictionary is simply their main assistant, and they very quickly search for the desired hieroglyphs in it. This can be achieved if you constantly use it.

Another type of dictionary that we will consider, but without an example, is the so-called search for hieroglyphs in the dictionary by sound. If you know how to pronounce a hieroglyph and you just need to know its meaning, then nothing is simpler - the hieroglyphs in such dictionaries are listed like in ordinary English-Russian ones - in alphabetical order. If the hieroglyph reads “che”, open the letters “c” and scroll to “che”. Then, from all the proposed hieroglyphs, we select the one that looks like the one we are looking for and that’s it - the search is over.

Note:
The article does not pretend to be academic, I just tried to explain in simple language how I personally look for hieroglyphs in the dictionary. If this helped you, I am very glad.

Kulidzhanov Andrey

Now there are many electronic online dictionaries. I brought some of them to page with useful links. Electronic dictionaries are convenient; many can be downloaded to your phone or tablet. However, how can you find a hieroglyph if you don’t know how to read it, which means you can’t enter it from the keyboard. What if the hieroglyph is in the picture and there is no way to copy it? One alternative is a paper dictionary.

In this article I want to talk about which dictionaries you should not buy, what criteria are used to sort hieroglyphs in dictionaries, and how to learn to find them easily.

When I just started learning Chinese, I ordered 2 dictionaries from an online store, which seemed quite decent to me. However, when I received them and tried to find something I needed, I was a complete fiasco. That's why. The first “Modern Chinese-Russian Dictionary” sorted hieroglyphs according to their reading - pinyin. But I didn’t know how to read the hieroglyphs that I wanted to find, and without knowing their reading, it was useless to rummage around there. The second “New Russian-Chinese Dictionary” provided a translation from Russian, without giving a transcription of the hieroglyphs - that is, again, without knowing how to read Pinyin, this dictionary is absolutely useless. Both dictionaries are gathering dust on the shelf. Therefore, if you are going to buy a dictionary, be sure to pay attention to the presence of various types of sorts, which I write about below.

Later, I acquired the “Big Chinese-Russian Dictionary”. The same BCRS that almost all translators from Chinese refer to. This dictionary has perfect sorting and there you can find any hieroglyph, having in front of you a picture of this hieroglyph, its writing or reading. Therefore, I will describe the methods for searching for hieroglyphs, based on the search method in BCRS.

So, in what ways can you search for hieroglyphs:

1. By pinyin index, where each syllable and each tone with which this syllable is read is indicated. If you know the reading of the hieroglyph, then you just need to follow this index. Pinyin is sorted alphabetically. Next to the reading there is a page from which the hieroglyphs that are read this way begin. That is, if you know that the hieroglyph is read as gēng, then we will look for it starting from page 718.

If you don’t know the reading of the hieroglyph, then immediately move on to the next type of search.

2. The second type of search is a search by keys. Searching for a hieroglyph using keys is a little more difficult, so I will explain with pictures. For example, we need to find the character 盖. We don't know how it is read. Obviously, the key of the hieroglyph is 羊 (if this is not obvious, then go and learn the keys). The total number of traits in this key is 6. Let's move on to the second search index.

Second index is a list of hieroglyphic keys. There are 209 of these keys in BCRS and they are sorted by the number of traits. We already know our key 羊 and we know that it has 6 traits. We are looking for it in the “keys consisting of 6 traits” section. We find it at number 149. Find out the desired page and go to third index- the index of all hieroglyphs in the dictionary - there we will directly look for the hieroglyph we need. How to search - by the number of added traits (more on this below)

We look for page 80, then we look for our key on this page.

This section contains all the characters that contain the key 羊. To find ours, we calculate how many strokes need to be added to the key 羊 to get the desired character 盖. We need to add 皿 to 羊 below, and this is 5 strokes, so we go to the subsection “5 additional strokes” and find our hieroglyph 盖 and see that it is on page 674.

Finally, we go to page 674 and here he is, darling.

There is also a fourth index in BCRS is an index of hieroglyphs that do not fall under the index of hieroglyphic keys. This is just a separate list. It’s better to at least look through this list, because sometimes you search, rummage, and can’t find it, but it’s there... in the fourth index.

It doesn't look that simple, but in reality it's just a matter of habit. All you have to do is practice a little, learn all the hieroglyphic keys, learn to count how many features hieroglyphs have, and everything will go like clockwork.