Reading Chinese Menus: Meta: Character index

[kake]

I'm sorry I've taken so long to do this, because I know people have been wanting it for a while, but here, finally, is an index of the posts I've made on individual Chinese characters. I did have rather grander ambitions for this, which is why it's been a while coming, but I had to scale back a bit in the end. Anyway! Here it is.

Also, you may have noticed that I've started putting a little infobox at the bottom of each character post, in which I give the character, its pinyin, its radical, and links to its entry in three dictionaries: CantoDict, MandarinTools, and YellowBridge. I'm happy to consider linking to other dictionaries too, if anyone has any suggestions, though I don't want the infobox to get too wide.

Here are the characters arranged by radical and number of strokes:

• radical 1 (一)
  • 丁 — dīng — diced
  • 三 — sān — three
• radical 3 (丶)
  • 丸 — wán — ball
• radical 7 (二)
  • 五 — wǔ — five
• radical 10 (儿)
  • 兔 — tù — rabbit
• radical 20 (勹)
  • 包 — bāo — bun/package/bundle
• radical 30 (口)
  • 口 — kǒu — mouth
• radical 31 (囗)
  • 四 — sì — four
• radical 61 (心)
  • 心 — xīn — heart
• radical 64 (手/扌/龵)
  • 手 — shǒu — hand
• radical 75 (木)
  • 東 — dōng — east
  • 椒 — jiāo — chilli/pepper
• radical 82 (毛)
  • 毛 — máo — hair/fur/feathers
• radical 85 (水/氵/氺)
  • 水 — shuǐ — water
  • 海 — hǎi — sea/ocean
  • 湯 — tāng — soup
• radical 86 (火/灬)
  • 炒 — chǎo — stirfry
• radical 91 (片)
  • 片 — piàn — sliced
• radical 93 (牛/牜)
  • 牛 — niú — cow/beef
• radical 96 (玉/王)
  • 球 — qiú — ball
• radical 97 (瓜)
  • 瓜 — guā — gourd
• radical 100 (生)
  • 生 — shēng — live/raw/unripe
• radical 106 (白)
  • 白 — bái — white/pure/plain
• radical 107 (皮)
  • 皮 — pí — skin/leather/rind
• radical 118 (竹)
  • 筷 — kuài — chopsticks
• radical 119 (米)
  • 米 — mǐ — uncooked rice/grain
  • 粉 — fěn — rice noodles/starch/powder
  • 粥 — zhǒu — congee
• radical 120 (糸/糹)
  • 紅 — hóng — red
  • 絲 — sī — thread/fibre/shred
• radical 128 (耳)
  • 耳 — ěr — ear
• radical 130 (肉/⺼)
  • 肉 — ròu — meat
  • 腰 — yāo — kidney
  • 腐 — fǔ — beancurd
• radical 140 (艸/艹)
  • 芋 — yù — taro
  • 花 — huā — flower
  • 茶 — chá — tea
  • 茄 — qié — aubergine/eggplant
  • 菜 — cài — vegetables, dish/course/cuisine
  • 菇 — gū — mushroom
  • 蒜 — suàn — garlic
  • 蒸 — zhēng — steamed
• radical 142 (虫)
  • 蛋 — dàn — egg
  • 蝦 — xiā — prawn
  • 蠔 — háo — oyster
• radical 151 (豆)
  • 豆 — dòu — beans
• radical 164 (酉)
  • 酸 — suān — sour
  • 醬 — jiàng — sauce/paste
• radical 172 (隹)
  • 雞 — jī — chicken
• radical 184 (食/飠)
  • 餅 — bǐng — cake/pancake/round pastry
• radical 186 (香)
  • 香 — xiāng — fragrance
• radical 195 (魚)
  • 魚 — yú — fish
  • 鮮 — xiān — fresh
• radical 199 (麥)
  • 麵 — miàn — noodles, flour, dough

And here they are in alphabetical order of pinyin:

• 白 — bái — white/pure/plain
• 包 — bāo — bun/package/bundle
• 餅 — bǐng — cake/pancake/round pastry
• 菜 — cài — vegetables, dish/course/cuisine
• 茶 — chá — tea
• 炒 — chǎo — stirfry
• 蛋 — dàn — egg
• 丁 — dīng — diced
• 東 — dōng — east
• 豆 — dòu — beans
• 耳 — ěr — ear
• 粉 — fěn — rice noodles/starch/powder
• 腐 — fǔ — beancurd
• 菇 — gū — mushroom
• 瓜 — guā — gourd
• 海 — hǎi — sea/ocean
• 蠔 — háo — oyster
• 紅 — hóng — red
• 花 — huā — flower
• 雞 — jī — chicken
• 醬 — jiàng — sauce/paste
• 椒 — jiāo — chilli/pepper
• 口 — kǒu — mouth
• 筷 — kuài — chopsticks
• 毛 — máo — hair/fur/feathers
• 米 — mǐ — uncooked rice/grain
• 麵 — miàn — noodles, flour, dough
• 牛 — niú — cow/beef
• 皮 — pí — skin/leather/rind
• 片 — piàn — sliced
• 茄 — qié — aubergine/eggplant
• 球 — qiú — ball
• 肉 — ròu — meat
• 三 — sān — three
• 生 — shēng — live/raw/unripe
• 手 — shǒu — hand
• 水 — shuǐ — water
• 絲 — sī — thread/fibre/shred
• 四 — sì — four
• 酸 — suān — sour
• 蒜 — suàn — garlic
• 湯 — tāng — soup
• 兔 — tù — rabbit
• 丸 — wán — ball
• 五 — wǔ — five
• 蝦 — xiā — prawn
• 鮮 — xiān — fresh
• 香 — xiāng — fragrance
• 心 — xīn — heart
• 腰 — yāo — kidney
• 魚 — yú — fish
• 芋 — yù — taro
• 蒸 — zhēng — steamed
• 粥 — zhǒu — congee

 

If you have any questions or corrections, please leave a comment (here's how) and let me know (or email me at kake@earth.li). See my introductory post to the Chinese menu project for what these posts are all about.

Comments

[pseudomonas]

Been meaning to ask - I often follow links from recent posts to older posts and find that you've linked forwards as well. Are you doing this manually or do you have some automatic system for keeping track? I'm impressed either way!

[kake]

I'm doing it manually. I don't have a system for keeping track, but I don't find it too hard to remember what I've already covered (this may get harder as time goes on, but the indexes should help a bit). I get a fair bit of traffic from Google searches, so I thought cross-linking would be helpful for people.

[pne]

I'd like to suggest zhongwen.com's character pages.

[kake]

Oh, yes, I've seen zhongwen.com before but never really explored it due to its frame-based navigation and habit of using images for text. I'll see if I can figure out a good way of linking.

[pne]

True; their navigation and presentation is a bit idiosyncratic.

[kake]

OK, I've now added Zhongwen links to all my character posts. Thank you for the suggestion!

another useful website

[(Anonymous)]

Hey great and interesting website! I also recommend mdbg.net as a useful and user-friendly website.

I noticed that on your dimsum page that you don't have all the Chinese names and characters for each dish. If you know them, is it possible for you to throw them on the site? If not, I am willing to help you out. I have a pretty strong background in the Chinese language, but my knowledge in Chinese food vocabulary is a bit lacking. I can try to find out the names of dishes in character form for this website.

Re: another useful website

[kake]

Thanks for the link! There are certainly a lot of Chinese-English dictionary sites out there.

I noticed that on your dimsum page that you don't have all the Chinese names and characters for each dish. If you know them, is it possible for you to throw them on the site?

Can you be more specific about which page you mean? Happy to add info where it's missing, but I can't work out which page you're talking about.