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Actually the majority of Chinese characters are compounds where one "piece" is a semantic marker and the other is a phonetic marker. So for example, here are c

Actually the majority of Chinese characters are compounds where one "piece" is a semantic marker and the other is a phonetic marker. So for example, here are characters referring to various metals: 金 - gold 銀 - silver 鉄 - iron 鉛 - lead Note that the first one appears as the left side of the others as a semantic marker.

needle0 6y ago
The concept is taken to extremes in types of fish in Japan, where there are a huge number of characters with the "fish" character (魚) in the left side of the letter, and some element that relates to the characteristic of the fish on the right, eg 鱈鰯鰊鮭鮪鰹鯖鯛鮫鰈鱒鰤鯰鰊鯉鱚... So much that a cup adorned with a list of the various fish-related characters is often seen in sushi bars. https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01MRHI9ML/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_GU.kFbBZR4R1D https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01MRHI9ML/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_G... (No, I don't have it all memorized, and I doubt many do.)