Chinese nameChinese佢
| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Yale Romanisation | chyú |
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Methodology edit
Structural simplification of characters edit
All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of the 1986 Complete List of Simplified Characters (hereafter the Complete List). Chart 1 lists all 350 characters that are used by themselves, and can never serve as 'simplified character components'. Chart 2 lists 132 characters that are used by themselves as well as utilized as simplified character components to further derive other simplified characters. It also lists 14 'components' or 'radicals' that cannot be used by themselves, but can be generalized for derivation of more complex characters.
- Derivation based on simplified character components – Chart 3 lists 1,753 characters which are simplified based on the same simplification principles used for character components and radicals in Chart 2. This list is non-exhaustive, so if a character is not already found in Charts 1–3, but can be simplified in accordance with Chart 2, the character should be simplified.
- Elimination of allographs – Series One Organization List of Variant Characters accounts for some of the orthography differences in mainland China versus in Hong Kong and Taiwan. These are not simplifications of character structures, but rather reduction in number of total standard characters. For each set of variant characters that share the identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are obsoleted. After rounds of revisions, by 1993, some 1,027 variant characters have been declared obsolete by this list. Among the chosen variants, those that appear in the 1986 Complete List are also simplified in character structure accordingly.
- Adoption of new standard forms – New standardized character forms originated from the 1965 Characters for Publishing list containing 6,196 characters. These tend to be vulgar variant forms for most of its characters. The 1988 List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese (hereafter Common Modern Characters) contains 7,000 characters, and replaces the 1965 list. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as being structurally simplified.
- Structural simplification – All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List. Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3 is derived.[note 1]{
Merging homophones edit
蒙、懞、濛、矇 → 蒙; 復、複、覆、复 → 复; 乾、幹、榦、干 → 干; 髮、發 → 发
Adaptations of printed cursive shapes edit
(草書楷化): 書 → 书; 長 → 长; 當 → 当; 韋 → 韦; 樂 → 乐; 車 → 车; 興 → 兴; 發 → 发; 東 → 东; 專 → 专; 過 → 过; 報 → 报; 爾 → 尔; 盡 → 尽; 學 → 学
Replacing components with arbitrary symbols edit
(such as 又 and 乂): 對 → 对; 觀 → 观; 僅 → 仅; 難 → 难; 鳳 → 凤; 這 → 这; 劉 → 刘
Omitting entire components edit
廠 → 厂; 廣 → 广; 飛 → 飞; 習 → 习; 滅 → 灭; 親 → 亲; 業 → 业; 鄉 → 乡; 餘 → 余; 氣 → 气
Omitting components, with further alteration edit
婦 → 妇; 麗 → 丽; 歸 → 归; 顯 → 显; 務 → 务
Structural changes that preserve the basic shape edit
繼 → 继; 龜 → 龟; 齒 → 齿; 奪 → 夺; 門 → 门; 見 → 见
Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds edit
鄰 → 邻; 斃 → 毙; 蠟 → 蜡; 鍾 → 钟; 艦 → 舰
Replacing an uncommon phonetic component with a more common one edit
華 → 华; 憲 → 宪; 歷、曆 → 历; 賓 → 宾
Replacing entirely with a newly coined phono-semantic compound edit
護 → 护; 驚 → 惊; 藝 → 艺; 響 → 响
Removing radicals edit
麼 → 么; 開 → 开; 裡/裏 → 里; 餘 → 余; 關/関 → 关
Only retaining single radicals edit
廣 → 广; 親 → 亲; 產 → 产; 類 → 类; 廠 → 厂; 鄉 → 乡
Replacing with ancient forms or variants edit
This is very similar to the 'elimination of allographs' in Series One Organization List of Variant Characters, except that these eliminations happen in Chart 1 and Chart 2 of Complete List of Simplified Characters. Characters simplified in Chart 2 can be further used for derivation of Chart 3, but those chosen in Series One Organization List of Variant Characters cannot. 塵 → 尘; 膚 → 肤; 從 → 从; 眾 → 众; 雲 → 云; 網 → 网; 與 → 与; 無 → 无; 電 → 电
Adopting ancient vulgar variants:[note 2] 體 → 体; 國 → 国; 憑 → 凭; 陽 → 阳; 陰 → 阴
Readopting loangraphs edit
餘 → 余; 後 → 后; 裡/裏 → 里
Copying and modifying a distinct traditional character edit
義 → 义(乂); 髮、發 → 发(友); 龍 → 龙(尤); 頭 → 头(大) etc.
Based on simplified components edit
Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List, the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as a conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed:
- The Complete List employs character components, not traditional radicals. A component refers to any conceivable part of a character, regardless of its position within the character, or its relative size compared to other components in the same character. For instance, in the character 摆, not only is 扌 (a traditional radical) considered a component, but so is 罢.
- Each of the 132 simplified characters in Chart 2, when used as a component in compound characters, systematically simplify compound characters in exactly the same way the Chart 2 character itself was simplified. For instance, 單 is simplified in Chart 2 to 单. Based on the same principle, these derivations can be made: 彈 → 弹; 嬋 → 婵; 囅 → 冁; etc.
- The 14 simplified components in Chart 2 are never used alone as individual characters. They only serve as components. Example of derived simplification based on the component 𦥯, simplified to 𰃮 (
), include: 學 → 学; 覺 → 觉; 黌 → 黉; etc.
- Chart 1 collects 352 simplified characters that generally cannot be used as components. Even in rare cases where a Chart 1 character is found as a component in a compound character, the compound character cannot be simplified in the same way. For instance, 習 is simplified in Chart 1 to 习, but 褶 cannot be simplified to ⿰衤习.
- A character that is already explicitly listed as simplified character in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" cannot be alternatively simplified based on derivation. For instance, 戰 and 誇 are simplified in Chart 1 to 战 and 夸 respectively, thus they cannot be simplified alternatively by derivation via 单 and 讠 in Chart 2 to 𢧐 and ⿰讠夸. 過 is simplified in Chart 2 to 过, thus it cannot be alternatively derived via 呙 in Chart 2 as 𬨨.
Elimination of allographs edit
The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Among the chosen variants, those that appear in the Complete List of Simplified Characters are also simplified in character structure accordingly:
Sample reduction of equivalent variants edit
姪 → 侄; 蹤 → 踪; 恆 → 恒; 佇 → 伫; 虖、嘑、謼 → 呼; 夠 → 够 etc.
Ancient variants edit
異 → 异; 淚 → 泪; 災、烖、菑 → 灾
Vulgar forms edit
傑 → 杰; 貓 → 猫; 豬 → 猪; 獃、騃 → 呆
Examples edit
裏 → 裡 → 里; 歎 → 嘆 → 叹; 唘、啓 → 啟 → 启; 鬦、鬪、鬭 → 鬥 → 斗; 厤、暦 → 曆 → 历; 歴 → 歷 → 历
In some instances, the chosen variant is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨. The "hand" radical 扌, with three strokes, on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now "seen" as more complex, appearing as the "tree" radical 木, with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨.
Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance, the traditional character 強, with 11 strokes is standardised as 强, with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters.
Novel forms edit
The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: 粵 → 粤; 奧 → 奥, the traditional component 釆 becomes 米 溫 → 温; 媼 → 媪, the traditional component 囚 becomes 日 虛 → 虚; 噓 → 嘘, the traditional "Break" stroke becomes the "Dot" stroke 靜 → 静; 睜 → 睁, the traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ 換 → 换; 煥 → 焕, the traditional component 奐 becomes 奂
Inconsistencies edit
A commonly cited example of the irregularity of simplification involves characters that share the ⼜ 'AGAIN' component, which is used in many simplified characters. While there is an observable pattern involving the replacement of 𦰩 with 又 as seen in 漢 → 汉, 難 → 难, 癱 → 瘫, 嘆 → 叹, 灘 → 滩, etc., when observing that 歎 → 叹, 歡 → 欢, 勸 → 劝, 灌 (not simplified) and 罐 (not simplified), an inconsistency arises. This is due to the fact that in the Complete List of Simplified Characters, 漢 → 汉 appears in Chart 1 while 難 → 难 is listed in Chart 2 and 癱 → 瘫 as a derived character in the non-exhaustive list in Chart 3. Therefore, 难 is defined as a 'simplified character component' according to the standard, while 又 is not. Based on 难, 癱 is simplified to 瘫, and 灘 to 滩. Since both 歡 → 欢 and 勸 → 劝 appear in Chart 1, they are not defined as derived characters. There are therefore no characters or components found in Chart 2 usable for derivation of 灌 and 罐. Further investigation reveals that these two characters do not appear in Chart 1 nor in "Series One Organization List of Variant Characters". Thus they remain unchanged from traditional forms in the Common Modern Characters list.
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