Ken's Cyber Cave: 17 most difficult to recognize Chinese characters

Sunday, April 10, 2016

17 most difficult to recognize Chinese characters

When I check my top 10 blog articles, the biggest surprise is the one about the "hardest Chinese character" climbs to my top 10 list.
http://kenlaifengshui.blogspot.com/2007/10/hardest-chinese-charcter-ever.html

Recently I have found that China's People's Daily has compiled a list of "most difficult Chinese characters to recognize". Have fun with the following!

1. Yao: 3 "earth" elements or roots; means "high mountain".

2. Xian: 3 "fish" elements, means the fishes are very fresh.

3. Xian: 3 "dog" elements, looks like 3 dogs running. "Speedy", "rising quickly" are the extended meanings.

4. Cu: 3 "deer" elements, looks like 1 adult deer with two small deers packed together with confusion. It means "blind or rough force". Here Cu means non-refined cereals.

5. Ben: 3 "ox" elements, looks like 3 oxen running forward. Ben is another way of writing 奔("ben" running, rushing) with the same rushing and running meaning.

6. Shan: 3 "goat" elements, Shan is another way of writing 羶("shan" ) with the same meaning odor of goat/ sheep (cooked or raw).

7. Mei: 2 "dumb" (呆 dai) elements together-- another way of writing "plum" (梅 mei). This character is originated from Shantong province and means "inarticulate and dumb".

8. Bi: 3 "money" (贝 bei) elements, sign of exerting energy (to make money). Bi is also the name of one of the 9 legendary sons of the dragon king.

9. Cui: 3 "hair" elements-- means hair. But this hair means refined or tiny hair over the skin that is hard to be seen.

10. Pa: 3 "hand" elements, first two hands stand for normal hands and the third one is for pickpocket. Pa means "pickpocket".

11. Suo/ rui: 3 "heart" elements; when pronouncing as "suo", it means puzzling or worrying. When read as "rui", it refers to an ancient worship ritual in autumn.

12. Mo: 3 "eye" elements; this word means pretty eyes or long range perspective.

13. Lei: 3 "field" elements, same as thunder (雷 lei) during ancient times. This word means the farm land.

14. Zhuan: 3 "son" elements, original meaning is "alone and pitiful like an orphan", but Chinese netizens use it to mean being enslaved by "house, car and spouse" (symbolizes 3 "sons" or子).

15. Hua: 3 "tongue" elements; this is another version of "talk" (话, hua). Hua here means flaming, instigating conflicts and talking bad about other people.

16. Jiong: this character looks like a brightly lit window. The original meanings are "bright" and "righteous". However, this character looks like an emoji with eyebrow lowering down like a sad expression. So it is used to mean depressed, sad, boring, alienated and helpless in Chinese internet.