<p>There's no official naming for Chinese characters. But there's several ways we use to tell from characters sharing the same pronunciation.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<p>We use that character with an example.</p>

<p>A: My name is "jia".</p>

<p>B: Which "jia"?</p>

<p>A: The jia in "jia ting"(家庭).</p>

<h2>Separating</h2>

<p>If there's no good example, or sometimes two examples share the same pronunciation, we seperate the character.</p>

<p>A: My last name is "li(李)".</p>

<p>B: Which "li"?</p>

<p>A: Mu(木) Zi(子) Li(李).</p>

<h2>Radical</h2>

<p>We'll also use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(Chinese_characters)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">radicals</a>.</p>

<p>A: My last name is "shi".</p>

<p>B: Which "shi"?</p>

<p>A: The "shi(施)" with "fang(方)".</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T10:54:08.150Z
The example in the Mu(木) Zi(子) Li(李) this can also be considered as "Using the Radicals" but not just the radical but using all of its root character to tell the difference? Am I wrong in assuming this? Is Mu(木) the radical in Li(李) or is it Zi(子) the radical? Sorry if this question sounded too basic. I am a newbie afterall.
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T11:04:48.237Z
There are only 217 radicals in Chinese. Although 木 and 子 are radicals, the radical of 李 is 木, not 子.
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T11:10:05.777Z
But actually no matter if you say Li with a Zi or Li with a Mu, most people know you're talking about "李".
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T14:59:25.700Z
If the radical of 李 is 木, then what is the terminology for 子in this context?  子 is the "XXXX" of 李. What is "XXXX" named?
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T01:23:59.140Z
I think there isn't. To talk about how components are consist of a character, that's another huge topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T01:59:23.000Z
2018-07-25T01:59:23.000Z
NoobTW
<p>Generally, there is no name for a single character in Chinese. Or you can say the name is the character itself, but then there are too many duplicates when you only have the reading.</p>

<p>To address a single character, there are often two ways, one is to describe how it is written, one is to put it into a word.</p>

<p>Take "博" as an example. You can say that it is the "bo2" with a "十" on the left, which is describing how the character is written. Or you can say it is the "bo2" in "博士"("博士的博"), which is putting it into a word.</p>

<p>For some characters, there are generally accepted ways to describe them. For example, "李" is often referred to as "木子李", and "张" is often referred to as "弓长张".</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T10:52:08.673Z
"but then there are too many duplicates when you only have the reading" I am not quite yet at the level to understand this statement. Can you further explain it? I'm sorry if this sounded too stupid to ask. I really just began to learn chinese.
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T11:07:26.163Z
For example, both 猩猩 and 星星 are Xing Xing. But they have different meanings and different characters.
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T00:05:34.130Z
btw what does "generally accepted ways " means? Does it mean they are "generally accepted names" for the character or perhaps even "木子李" is the official name of "李" ? Sorry I'm still pretty dumb about this
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T01:22:05.553Z
They are generally accepted names. That means most people will use "木子李" for "李". But it is not "official", because there is no organization or government agency making standards/specifications/lists for such names. @Tomsofty33
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T03:48:59.057Z
are there at least some basic chinese characters that actually has official names? Like the chinese alphabet are they suppose to have official names or just "generally accepted names"? I'm just guessing here but it's unlikely that out of all of those thousands of characters,  0% has any official name, not even the basic ones. How can its society tries to teach to a foreigner its language without an official name to address the basic letters that makes up the language? pardon for my incompetence, if I'm wrong.
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T04:24:04.197Z
The basic component might be 笔划, but not a character. And 笔划 contains 横、竖、撇、点、折, etc. Charcters are made up of 笔划. And there is no basic "letters" in Chinese. You can not find a basic set of characters that all other character are made up of them. There is just no "basic letters".
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T06:10:30.047Z
I still don't think there are official names for Chinese characters.
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T08:57:26.580Z
the case fefe mentioned is similar to a for apple, b for baby , you use a vocabulary to indicate the word/character you want to use. therefore in Chinese, you use "博士的博" to indicate you are saying 博 instead other bó .
Ray
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T11:46:59.980Z
@Raymond nice examples!
NoobTW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-27T02:51:03.990Z
Is the so called "chinese alphabet" just a method to adapt to the english alphabet?
Tomsofty33
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-27T05:58:53.357Z
No, there is not.
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-27T07:02:20.410Z
@Tomsofty33 We can't simply apply the English alphabet rules to Chinese because there is no such thing in Chinese . Chinese is logogram but English is phonogram. If you really want to find a way to describe how to address a Chinese word - "博士的博" , a corresponding example in English could be "My name is Raimon with i".
Ray
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T01:17:48.797Z
2018-07-25T01:17:48.797Z
fefe
<p>Is there any official naming of complex (not the basic ones) Chinese Characters in Mandarin Chinese.</p>

<p>For example, I know that the character 博 is pronounce in Pinyin as:</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8D%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">bó</a></p>

<p>But If I were to, address (the name of) this particular character, and not intending to address its pronunciation, what name should I use? (example:the letter W is pronounce as "w" as in "ˈwɔːtə(r)" for the word water in the IPA of BrE but the letter itself is named (referred to as) "double u")</p>

<p>Note: Please add the resources link for this. I'm at a level of a beginner so please add some pinyin in your answer so that I can read it.</p>

<p>Regards</p>

<characters>
Official Naming of the Characters (Hanzi) in Mandarin Chinese
# Official Naming of the Characters (Hanzi) in Mandarin Chinese

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-25)

Is there any official naming of complex (not the basic ones) Chinese Characters in Mandarin Chinese.

For example, I know that the character 博 is pronounce in Pinyin as:

[bó](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8D%9A)

But If I were to, address (the name of) this particular character, and not intending to address its pronunciation, what name should I use? (example:the letter W is pronounce as "w" as in "ˈwɔːtə(r)" for the word water in the IPA of BrE but the letter itself is named (referred to as) "double u")

Note: Please add the resources link for this. I'm at a level of a beginner so please add some pinyin in your answer so that I can read it.

Regards

**Tags:** characters


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-25. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

There's no official naming for Chinese characters. But there's several ways we use to tell from characters sharing the same pronunciation.

## Examples

We use that character with an example.

A: My name is "jia".

B: Which "jia"?

A: The jia in "jia ting"(家庭).

## Separating

If there's no good example, or sometimes two examples share the same pronunciation, we seperate the character.

A: My last name is "li(李)".

B: Which "li"?

A: Mu(木) Zi(子) Li(李).

## Radical

We'll also use [radicals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_(Chinese_characters)).

A: My last name is "shi".

B: Which "shi"?

A: The "shi(施)" with "fang(方)".

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The example in the Mu(木) Zi(子) Li(李) this can also be considered as "Using the Radicals" but not just the radical but using all of its root character to tell the difference? Am I wrong in assuming this? Is Mu(木) the radical in Li(李) or is it Zi(子) the radical? Sorry if this question sounded too basic. I am a newbie afterall.  
> **username_1**: There are only 217 radicals in Chinese. Although 木 and 子 are radicals, the radical of 李 is 木, not 子.  
> **username_1**: But actually no matter if you say Li with a Zi or Li with a Mu, most people know you're talking about "李".  
> **username_0**: If the radical of 李 is 木, then what is the terminology for 子in this context?  子 is the "XXXX" of 李. What is "XXXX" named?  
> **username_1**: I think there isn't. To talk about how components are consist of a character, that's another huge topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-07-25. Score: 2

Generally, there is no name for a single character in Chinese. Or you can say the name is the character itself, but then there are too many duplicates when you only have the reading.

To address a single character, there are often two ways, one is to describe how it is written, one is to put it into a word.

Take "博" as an example. You can say that it is the "bo2" with a "十" on the left, which is describing how the character is written. Or you can say it is the "bo2" in "博士"("博士的博"), which is putting it into a word.

For some characters, there are generally accepted ways to describe them. For example, "李" is often referred to as "木子李", and "张" is often referred to as "弓长张".

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: "but then there are too many duplicates when you only have the reading" I am not quite yet at the level to understand this statement. Can you further explain it? I'm sorry if this sounded too stupid to ask. I really just began to learn chinese.  
> **username_1**: For example, both 猩猩 and 星星 are Xing Xing. But they have different meanings and different characters.  
> **username_0**: btw what does "generally accepted ways " means? Does it mean they are "generally accepted names" for the character or perhaps even "木子李" is the official name of "李" ? Sorry I'm still pretty dumb about this  
> **username_2**: They are generally accepted names. That means most people will use "木子李" for "李". But it is not "official", because there is no organization or government agency making standards/specifications/lists for such names. @username_0  
> **username_0**: are there at least some basic chinese characters that actually has official names? Like the chinese alphabet are they suppose to have official names or just "generally accepted names"? I'm just guessing here but it's unlikely that out of all of those thousands of characters,  0% has any official name, not even the basic ones. How can its society tries to teach to a foreigner its language without an official name to address the basic letters that makes up the language? pardon for my incompetence, if I'm wrong.  
> **username_2**: The basic component might be 笔划, but not a character. And 笔划 contains 横、竖、撇、点、折, etc. Charcters are made up of 笔划. And there is no basic "letters" in Chinese. You can not find a basic set of characters that all other character are made up of them. There is just no "basic letters".  
> **username_1**: I still don't think there are official names for Chinese characters.  
> **username_3**: the case username_2 mentioned is similar to a for apple, b for baby , you use a vocabulary to indicate the word/character you want to use. therefore in Chinese, you use "博士的博" to indicate you are saying 博 instead other bó .  
> **username_1**: @Raymond nice examples!  
> **username_0**: Is the so called "chinese alphabet" just a method to adapt to the english alphabet?  
> **username_2**: No, there is not.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 We can't simply apply the English alphabet rules to Chinese because there is no such thing in Chinese . Chinese is logogram but English is phonogram. If you really want to find a way to describe how to address a Chinese word - "博士的博" , a corresponding example in English could be "My name is Raimon with i".  

---

