<p>氏(Shì) is the phonetic component in 纸(Zhǐ), which is a '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification" rel="nofollow noreferrer">phono-semantic compound character</a>'</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Phono-semantic compound characters</p>
<p>形聲 xíng shēng &quot;form and sound&quot; or 諧聲 xié shēng &quot;sound agreement&quot;</p>
<p>These are often called radical-phonetic characters. They form the majority of Chinese characters by far—over 90%, and were created by combining two components:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>a phonetic component, also called &quot;rebus&quot;, Japanese 音符 (onpu), that is, a character with approximately the correct pronunciation.</p>
</li>
<li><p>a semantic component, also called a determinative, one of a limited number of determinative characters which supplied an element of meaning (in most cases this is also the radical under which a character is listed in a dictionary).</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-29T11:10:13.890Z
2017-11-29T11:10:13.890Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>According to the question, you should only need to describe the radical (found in this case as the left hand component) <strong>糸</strong>, not <strong>氏</strong>.</p>

<p>The word <strong>部首</strong> is literally translated as <em>section header</em>, and strictly refers to the header under which the character is grouped in dictionaries. Each character has only <strong>one</strong> 部首, just like each English word has only <strong>one</strong> <em>first letter</em> under which they are found in dictionaries.</p>

<p>If your teacher also asks you to describe 氏, then that should be done in a separate question; if they think that 氏 is a 部首 in the character <strong>紙</strong>, then they are unequivocally wrong. 紙 is a semantophonetic (<strong>形聲</strong>) compound character under the traditional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>liushu</em></a> scheme of classifying characters. You can only refer to 氏 as a <strong>聲部</strong> (<em>sound component</em>) in 紙, not a 部首.</p>

<p><strong>最早"紙"是什麽意思</strong> (punctuation added) is asking you to find out what 紙 meant in its first appearance in historical literature. This may be trying to get you to appreciate that many characters have changed meaning over the course of history.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-29T23:00:20.357Z
2017-11-29T23:00:20.357Z
dROOOze
<p>I was asked this in my Chinese class and have to write a mini paragraph on it:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>解释一下“纸”这个字部首是什么？最早纸是什么意思？</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I know that the first part of 纸 means 丝绸, but what does the second part of the character mean? Also, I don't exactly get what 最早纸是什么意思 is asking for...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-29T11:12:43.477Z
纸 is 形声字. The second part 氏 stands for its 'sound'. There are couple of links might help if you baidu. here is one of them: http://www.xiuwenyuan.com/ziyuan/e7bab8.html
dan
<meaning><vocabulary><radicals>
Meaning of 纸 in radicals
# Meaning of 纸 in radicals

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-29)

I was asked this in my Chinese class and have to write a mini paragraph on it:

> 解释一下“纸”这个字部首是什么？最早纸是什么意思？

I know that the first part of 纸 means 丝绸, but what does the second part of the character mean? Also, I don't exactly get what 最早纸是什么意思 is asking for...

**Tags:** meaning, vocabulary, radicals

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 纸 is 形声字. The second part 氏 stands for its 'sound'. There are couple of links might help if you baidu. here is one of them: http://www.xiuwenyuan.com/ziyuan/e7bab8.html  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-11-29. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

氏(Shì) is the phonetic component in 纸(Zhǐ), which is a '[phono-semantic compound character](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification)'

> Phono-semantic compound characters
>
> 形聲 xíng shēng "form and sound" or 諧聲 xié shēng "sound agreement"
>
> These are often called radical-phonetic characters. They form the majority of Chinese characters by far—over 90%, and were created by combining two components:
>
> 1. a phonetic component, also called "rebus", Japanese 音符 (onpu), that is, a character with approximately the correct pronunciation.
> 2. a semantic component, also called a determinative, one of a limited number of determinative characters which supplied an element of meaning (in most cases this is also the radical under which a character is listed in a dictionary).


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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-11-29. Score: 2

According to the question, you should only need to describe the radical (found in this case as the left hand component) **糸**, not **氏**.

The word **部首** is literally translated as *section header*, and strictly refers to the header under which the character is grouped in dictionaries. Each character has only **one** 部首, just like each English word has only **one** *first letter* under which they are found in dictionaries.

If your teacher also asks you to describe 氏, then that should be done in a separate question; if they think that 氏 is a 部首 in the character **紙**, then they are unequivocally wrong. 紙 is a semantophonetic (**形聲**) compound character under the traditional [*liushu*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification) scheme of classifying characters. You can only refer to 氏 as a **聲部** (*sound component*) in 紙, not a 部首.

**最早"紙"是什麽意思** (punctuation added) is asking you to find out what 紙 meant in its first appearance in historical literature. This may be trying to get you to appreciate that many characters have changed meaning over the course of history.


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