Six Writings - Rikusho

This explains the composition and use of Chinese characters, dividing them into six categories. The oldest concrete explanation is found in the article in the Shuowen Jiezi (written by Xu Shen in the Later Han Dynasty, memorialized in 121), which explains (1) ideographical characters (those showing abstract concepts, such as "up" and "down"); (2) pictographical characters (illustrated shapes of things, such as "sun" and "moon") ((1) and (2) are single characters); and (3) phono-semantic characters (also called harmonious sounds, such as "jiang" and "he" that combine phonetic notations and meanings). Most Chinese characters fall into this category. They refer to (1) a character that belongs to a certain family, (2) a character that belongs to a certain family, (3) a character that belongs to a certain family, (4) a compound character that combines the meanings of two or three characters, such as "武" (bu) (shin) (faith) (trust), (5) a character that belongs to a certain family, (6) a character that belongs to a certain family, (7) a character that belongs to a certain family, (8) a character that belongs to a certain family, (9) a character that belongs to a certain family, (10) a character that belongs to a certain family, (11) a character that belongs to a certain family, (12) a character that belongs to a certain family, (13) a character that belongs to a certain family, (14) a character that belongs to a certain family, (15) a character that belongs to a certain family, (16) a character that belongs to a certain family, (17) a character that belongs to a certain family, (18) a character that belongs to a certain family, (19) a character that belongs to a certain family, (20) a character that belongs to a certain family, (21) a character that belongs to a certain family, (22) a character that belongs to a certain family, (23) a character that belongs to a certain family, (24) a character that belongs to a certain family, (25) a character that belongs to a certain family, (26) a character that belongs to a certain family, (27) a character that belongs to a certain family, (28) a character that belongs to a certain family, (29) a character that belongs to a certain family, (30) a character that belongs to a certain family, (31) a character that belongs to a certain family, (32) a character that belongs to a certain family

[Yutaka Tsukishima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

漢字の構成法ならびに転用法を六種に分けて説明したもの。『説文解字(せつもんかいじ)』（後漢(ごかん)の許慎撰(きょしんせん)、121年上奏）の叙にある記事が具体的説明の最古例で、（1）指事（「上」「下」等、抽象的概念を示すもの）、（2）象形（「日」「月」等、物の形を図示したもの）（（1）（2）は単独文字）、（3）形声（諧(かい)声とも。「江」「河」等、音符と意義とをあわせたもの。大部分の漢字はこれに属する）、（4）会意（「武」「信」等、2、3字の意義をあわせたもの）（（3）（4）は合成文字、（1）～（4）は漢字構成法）、（5）転注（「令」が「命令」の意から「君長」の意へ等、字義が転じた際、もとの字を転用するもの）、（6）仮借（「而」が「ひげ」の意から「しこうして」の意へ等、意義に関係なく同音の別語を表すもの）（（5）（6）は転用法）をいう。順序や転注の内容に異伝があるが、漢字の起源・構成の説明として広く行われた。

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