Chinese Quadruple Radicals Provide New Insight Into the Meaning of Singular Words

By Jennifer Ball and Maggie Li (李琪)

Quadruple radicals are not common, but they do give a sense of what one character means if increased four times. Consequently, if X = n, then 4X = 4n. Therefore, we have a better sense about what a character means when its effect is replicated four times. (For Triple Radicals, go here: Triple Radicals.) For example, four mouths mean “noise” or “public opinion,” but if three of those mouths are contained as a unit, it means “vomit, annoy, enrage.”

 

Quadruple radicals page 1

Quadruple radicals page 1

 

fire; radical number 86 (semantic variant , )

biao1, huo3, zai1

“fire dots” or “four-dots fire”

concerned about, anxious, worried (same as  – name of warring state; surname)

yu2

man, person

scattered or dispersed and clear, to stop, to detain, a connection, lineage

li3

cross (govern, control, manage; nurture)

to connect 

zhuo2

and, also, again, in addition

sip, suck up; sob, weep

chuo4 

mouth (orifice) + connect

raised path between fields

chuo4, zhuo2

field + connect

to mend

duo2, duo1

clothes + connect

plateau

shuǎng

criss cross + earth + big

(unknown)

liu4

sun

(unknown)

(unknown)

sun

bright

lang3

moon

fire appearance

yi4, (yi1?)

fire

great currents

man4

water

public opinion; clamour; noise, (ancient form of ); thunder, an organic compound (porphin); (porphyrins)

ji2, qi4, bi1, lei2

mouth (orifice)

vomit, annoy, enrage

ou3

This says, “Make the sound of three mouths.”

receptacle, vessel, instrument

qi4

mouth (orifice) + work

receptacle, vessel, instrument

qi4

mouth (orifice) + dog

be noisy, treat with contempt

xiao1

mouth (orifice) + head (page)

to open, to stretch; to extend, to unfold; to dilate; to prolong (to work it?)

zhan3, zhan4

work

(same as 嵐) to open, to stretch, to unfold, to expand

zhan3

work + corpse (bottom) + lower half of clothes

(unknown)

qun2

cow/bull

(unknown)

(unknown)

tree

thunder (from , related characters:

, ) 

lei2

field

earth; land; soil; ground; territory, opium

kui2

earth, dirt

(unknown)

bao3

gold

nag (related to “fear; envy; loquacious”)

zhe2

dragon

lots of fish

ye4

fish

 

 

 

Sources:

http://www.zybang.com/question/c616f164492f46e6186b45ba18d86b54.htm

http://wenwen.soso.com/z/q72827090.htm (translated via Google webpage translation)

http://www.zdic.net/

http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en

http://www.cojak.org/index.php?function=about

http://www.sayjack.com

http://www.chinese-tools.com

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki

http://www.mandarintools.com/

McNaughton, William and Li Ying. Reading and writing Chinese: a guide to the Chinese writing system, the student’s 1,020 list, the official 2,000 list. Ruttland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1999.

http://dict.iguci.cn/dictionary/

http://www.chineseetymology.org