199) 金 / 金属

jin / jinshu

gold

Metals taken from earth (土) were melted and poured into the cast (仝), and the most valuable metal of all is gold.

199yx) 艮

gen

sign in trigram

look back

199y-14d*) 银

yin

silver

gold/metal 钅=金¹⁹⁹[jīn] + look back/straightforward 艮 [gěn]

Silver used to be prized more than gold because it was harder to find in the natural state and was very hard to purify. To find a metal (钅) one has to keep looking everywhere, including behind (艮) himself.

199ax) 㕣

yan

199a) 铅

qian

lead

metal 钅=金 [jīn] + swamp 㕣 [yǎn]

Symbolizes lead, a metal (symbol) with blueish grey color like a swamp (㕣).

199bx) 昔

xi

199b) 错

cuo

wrong(ly)

gold/metal 钅=金 [jīn] + former times 昔²²⁰[xī]

If gold (symbol) and silver are stuck together for an extended period of time (昔), their materials start to flow to each other and mix, which is considered wrong and inauspicious to happen to pure gold.

199c) 失

shi

lose

This character depicts an image of something which is slipping away from under one’s hand (手), and the meaning of ‘to lose’ is derived from it

199d) 铁

tie

iron

metal 钅=金 [jīn] + lose 失 [shī]

Iron is most used by the human beings. It is cheap (失) and easily available (失) among the metals (钅).

200) 工

gong

work

Symbolizes a tool used to make things or while performing sacrifice – work in general.

red; revolutionary

thread 纟 [sī] + tool/work 工²⁰⁰[gōng]

The Chinese dyed fabric or threads (纟) and this character meaning ‘red’ gets its pronunciation from “工.”

200a) 江

jiang

river

water 氵²⁰²[shuǐ] + work 工 [gōng]

Small streams (氵) come together to form (工) a large river.

200wx) 穴

xue

200w-142b*) 空 / 空白

kong / kong bai

in vain; air / void

cave 穴 [xué] + tool/work 工²⁰⁰[gōng]

An empty cave (穴) dug out with tools (工). A void is only filled with air.

201) 水

shui

water

Symbolizes water by representing water flowing in rivers (水).

201a) 永

yong

forever

person 丶→人⁶³[symbol] + water 水 [shuǐ]

The character was initially used to symbolize a person (丶 →人) swimming in river (水), but later derived to mean forever as in things floating endlessly down the river.

201b) 泳

yong

swim

water 氵²⁰²[shuǐ] + forever 永 [yǒng]

As “永” came to mean forever, water (氵) is added to restore the meaning of swimming.

201cx) 白

bai

201c) 泉

quan

fountain

white 白¹³⁴[bái] + water 水 [shuǐ]

Water (水) springing in fountain between stones is shining (白) under sunlight.

201dx) 厂

change

201d) 原

yuan

original

cliff 厂¹⁴⁸[ān] + fountain 泉 [quán]

All rivers originate from a small source fountain (泉) in between boulders located in high grounds (厂).

201e) 愿

yuan

wish

original 原 [yuán] + heart 心²⁸[xīn]

Signifies how human desire or wish originates (原) from the heart (心).

202) 氵

shui

202yx) 工

gong

202y) 江

jiang

river

water 氵²⁰²[shuǐ] + work 工 [gōng]

Small streams (氵) come together to form (工) a large river.

202a) 流

liu

flow

water 氵[shuǐ] + flow 㐬 [liú]

“㐬[liú],” which symbolizes a child playing in flowing water, is not used by itself. Therefore water (氵) is added to restore the original meaning of water flowing.

202b) 派

pai

faction;

dispatch, send

water 氵[shuǐ] + branch rivers being separated  [symbol]

Symbolizes small branch rivers separating (symbol) from the main stream (氵), which came to mean factions or the act of dispatching someone to another place.

202zx) 每

mei

202z-97b*) 海

hai

sea

^{water 氵202}[shuǐ] + every 每 [měi]

The sea never overflows or dries up and always (每) maintains the same water (氵) level.

202cx) 穴

xue

202c) 深

shen

deep

water 氵[shuǐ] + cave →穴¹⁴²[xué] + tree 木 [mù]

a man holding (又) torch fire (火) inside a deep, dark cave (穴) with water (氵) flowing on the floor.

202d) 汁

zhi

juice

water 氵[shuǐ] + horizontal 一 [symbol] + vertical丨 [symbol]

This character depicts the image of putting pressure horizontally (一) and vertically (丨) in order to squeeze juice (氵) from fruit.

202wx) 台

tai

202w-93e*) 治

zhi

rule

water 氵²⁰²[shuǐ] + platform 台 [tái]

Whenever there was a drought or a flood, the people offered a baby on the altar (台) to rule the waters (氵).