The Creation of New Radicals Based on Existing Radicals

In ancient times some radicals were createdby modifying existing radicals. For example, the radical 甘, which means sweet, was created by adding a horizontal stroke to the existing radical 口 (mouth). This added stroke is supposed to indicate the tongue – the organ that senses sweetness. Another example is 立, which means to stand. This radical was created by adding another horizontal stroke underneath the radical 大(big) to represent a person standing on the ground. Strictly speaking, radicals of this type are no longer pure pictographs. They are ideographs-graphic symbols that represent abstract ideas, often by portraying a single concrete event to suggest the abstract idea.

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