<p>You can look in zhongwen.com for character analysis. I've heard they may not always agree with other experts, but I like it. Just click search and put the pinyin in the box, it gives you a break down of most characters.
The 'logic' may be lost in history!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-21T01:14:32.847Z
2015-03-21T01:14:32.847Z
Pedroski
<p>There are general guidelines listed in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order#General_guidelines" rel="nofollow">Stroke order</a> article at Wikipedia. Even still, there are varying standards (also noted by that same article) on what is considered the "correct" stroke order. The article goes into further detail on some of the differences, but practically speaking, the guidelines should generally serve you well.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-21T02:48:21.613Z
although question does not mention ＂stroke order＂，
as mentioned above this is fixed by the stroke order rules with some exceptions （quoting ＂教学汉字规范手册＂：＂绝大多数汉字应当按照笔顺规则书写。由于汉字结构复杂，有些汉字习惯的写法与笔顺规则不尽一致，天长日久，也就流传和固定下来。女、火、长、丑、非等字就是这样。＂）Anyhow there exists animated stroke order software。
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-21T01:02:46.633Z
2015-03-21T01:02:46.633Z
Claw
<p>I think we can name the parts of Chinese characters as "suffixes", which are also called "radical", such as "left-fix", "right-fix", "top-fix", and "bottom-fix".</p>

<p>Do not think they have meaning. They do not. Those suffixes only have some  information of categories. It is not as strictly logical as in math. It is just about right. For example, 林，树，杆，梁，柴 are of the kind of 木 (wood).</p>

<p>The other part may (or may not) have information of sound. It may be the same sound or the same final of pinyin. And it is not always make the similar sense, not logic, not math.  </p>

<p>I think we'd better say they are 指类指韵，not 指意指音。 </p>

<p>That is the situation of Chinese written system. You may want to put most of your time in speaking and write as pinyin. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-21T20:21:42.063Z
2015-03-21T20:21:42.063Z
PdotWang
<p>I am learning Chinese now, and we've been introduced to Chinese characters as 'pictograms'. I understand the logic behind some characters, like <code>口 mouth</code> to and <code>人 person</code>.</p>

<p>But, what about complex characters? For example: <code>吃 to eat</code> consists of <code>口</code> to indicate that this character is related to the mouth, but what about the remaining right-side of the character? What is the logic (if any) in those strokes?</p>

<p>This leaves me to wonder about countless other characters like <code>礼物 gift</code>. It seems very hard to remember all of these characters, especially since the their strokes are seemingly mostly without logic. </p>

<characters><etymology><writing><glyph-origin><stroke-order>
Logic behind the strokes of complex characters
# Logic behind the strokes of complex characters

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-03-21)

I am learning Chinese now, and we've been introduced to Chinese characters as 'pictograms'. I understand the logic behind some characters, like `口 mouth` to and `人 person`.

But, what about complex characters? For example: `吃 to eat` consists of `口` to indicate that this character is related to the mouth, but what about the remaining right-side of the character? What is the logic (if any) in those strokes?

This leaves me to wonder about countless other characters like `礼物 gift`. It seems very hard to remember all of these characters, especially since the their strokes are seemingly mostly without logic.

**Tags:** characters, etymology, writing, glyph-origin, stroke-order


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-03-21. Score: 3

You can look in zhongwen.com for character analysis. I've heard they may not always agree with other experts, but I like it. Just click search and put the pinyin in the box, it gives you a break down of most characters.
The 'logic' may be lost in history!


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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-03-21. Score: 1

There are general guidelines listed in the [Stroke order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order#General_guidelines) article at Wikipedia. Even still, there are varying standards (also noted by that same article) on what is considered the "correct" stroke order. The article goes into further detail on some of the differences, but practically speaking, the guidelines should generally serve you well.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: although question does not mention ＂stroke order＂， as mentioned above this is fixed by the stroke order rules with some exceptions （quoting ＂教学汉字规范手册＂：＂绝大多数汉字应当按照笔顺规则书写。由于汉字结构复杂，有些汉字习惯的写法与笔顺规则不尽一致，天长日久，也就流传和固定下来。女、火、长、丑、非等字就是这样。＂）Anyhow there exists animated stroke order software。  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2015-03-21. Score: 0

I think we can name the parts of Chinese characters as "suffixes", which are also called "radical", such as "left-fix", "right-fix", "top-fix", and "bottom-fix".

Do not think they have meaning. They do not. Those suffixes only have some information of categories. It is not as strictly logical as in math. It is just about right. For example, 林，树，杆，梁，柴 are of the kind of 木 (wood).

The other part may (or may not) have information of sound. It may be the same sound or the same final of pinyin. And it is not always make the similar sense, not logic, not math.

I think we'd better say they are 指类指韵，not 指意指音。

That is the situation of Chinese written system. You may want to put most of your time in speaking and write as pinyin.


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