12 lines
780 B
Markdown
12 lines
780 B
Markdown
- #日本語
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- # Introduction to Kanji
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- ## Categories
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- Kanji can be classified into 4 main categories:
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- **Pictographic characters:** originated from pictures of objects (e.g., 山, 川, 馬, 雨).
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- **Indicative kanji:** made of points & lines to indicate abstract ideas (e.g., 一, 三, 上, 下).
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- **Compound kanji:** composed by combining *pictographic kanji* & other types of kanji.
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- **Phonetic - ideographic kanji:** formed by combining *phonetic* & *ideographic* elements.
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- ## On-readings & Kun-readings
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- **On-readings** are based upon the Chinese pronunciation of the kanji when they were first introduced to Japan.
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- **Kun-readings** are based on the pronunciation of the Japanese word whose meaning was close to that of the kanji character.
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