Category

Example

Analysis

Pictographic

characters

“RI” (meaning “sun”)

“YUE” (meaning “moon”)

Self-explanatory

characters

“SHANG” (meaning “up”)

“XIA” (meaning “down”)

Associative

compound

“XIN” (meaning “believe”)

REN + YAN (meaning “human + belive”, people should keep their words.)

Pictophonetic

characters

“HE” (meaning “river”)

SHUI (meaning “water”)

KE (indicate the sound of water flowing)

Synonymous

characters

“KAO” (meaning “exam”)

In Explaining Words and Analyzing Compound Characters: LAO and KAO are mutually explanatory.

“LAO” (meaning “old”)

Phonetic loan

characters

“BEI” (meaning “north”)

(meaning “refers to two people who are in opposite directions”).