Stop Memorizing! Learn the Secret Formula of Chinese Characters

What if I told you that you don't have to memorize every single Chinese character one by one? There's a system, a secret formula that builds thousands of them. Today, you're going to learn that formula. And by the end of this video, you'll be able to look at characters you have never seen and guess their meaning. Let's get started. This is the master key. Almost all Chinese characters are built this way. One part gives you a clue to the pronunciation. We will call this the sound body. The other part gives you a clue to the meaning. This is the meaning radical. Put them together and you have a complete character. Let's see this formula in action with the most powerful sound bodies. First, meet Qing. Qing is a color word, but it doesn't mean just one color like blue or green. In ancient Chinese, Qing described the color of nature like fresh plants, the sky, and youth. So depending on the context, it can mean blue, green, or even blackish blue. Qing is a pictophonetic and ideogram hybrid. It originally came from a picture of color and life, then evolved to include a sound component. In bronze inscriptions, Qing was composed of two main ideas. The top part comes from a character meaning sprout, giving Qing a sense of freshness. The bottom part is related to color. Together, they create the idea of a vibrant, natural color. Now watch what happens. We take our sound body Qing and we add the water radical. What do we get? Qing, the word for clear, like clear water. Qing che, water that is clear and transparent. Qing chu, to see clearly, understand clearly, explain clearly. Qing jie, to clean something. We take the same sound body Qing, add the speech radical, which is yan. And what do we get? Qing, to request or please. So how do we use Qing? We can say Qing jin, please come in. Qing wen, excuse me, may I ask. Qing zuo, please sit. So what do you get when you combine the heart radical with the sound body Qing? You get the concept of emotion or feeling itself. The core meaning of Qing is feeling, emotion or situation. Xin qing, mood. Ai qing, love, the feeling of love. Qing xu, mood or emotional state. Guess what word do you get when you combine the sun radical ru with the sound body Qing? You get qing, clear weather or sunny. It describes a bright cloudless day. Qing tian, a sunny day. Qing lang, bright and clear weather. Fang qing, after rain, to clear up. Now meet the second sound body, Fang. It's all about direction and shape. It means square, direction, and even a method. It started as a simple farming tool for marking boundaries. The character Fang originally depicted a plough or an instrument with two blades. This agricultural tool was used to create straight lines and boundaries in the fields which logically evolved into its modern meanings related to direction, squares, and sites. Fang is a simple ideogram. It cannot be broken down into smaller semantic components in modern Chinese. It is itself a radical. The first one is adding fu with Fang. We get the character Fang to release or to put. Fang is used in many common and useful words such as Fang kai, to release. Fang song, to relax. Fang jia, to have a vacation. The next character is Fang where we add the radical hu with Fang. The top part hu by itself means a single door or a household. Its job here is to tell you that this character is about a building that has a door. Fang at the bottom is the sound ingredient. Fang is in the second tone. Fang. Chu fang, kitchen. Shu fang, study room. Fang dong, landlord. So what do you get when you combine the radical fu with the sound body Fang? You get the Chinese character Fang. Fang means to defend, to guard against, or to prevent. The left side radical fu means a hill or mound of earth. In ancient times, people built walls and barriers out of earth for defense. So when you see this radical on the left, the character's meaning is related to a barrier, a wall, or a boundary for protection. Fang is used in words like Fang zhi, to prevent, to guard against. Fang huo, fireproof or fire prevention. Fang shai, sun protection. Guess what word you will get when you combine the speech radical yan with fang? Well, you get the word fang. The core meaning of fang is to visit or to call on someone. Fang wen, to visit or to interview. Bai fang, to pay a visit. This is a formal word. Cai fang, to interview. Like a journalist interviewing someone, you use cai fang. The next sound body we will look at is bao, to wrap. The character bao is made up of two parts. The top part looks like a knife or curved hand, representing the action of wrapping off and closing. The bottom part looks like a baby or object being wrapped, representing the thing inside the wrapping. The first word in this bao family is adding the hand radical shao to bao, the sound body. We get the word bao. Bao means to hug, to hold in one's arms, or to embrace. The radical on the left, shao, means an action you do with your hand or arm. Bao is used in many common and emotional words like bao yuan, to complain. Yong bao, to hug or to embrace. Bao zhu, is to hold on tightly. So what do you get when you combine water with a wrap? Bao, you get a bubble. The idea of wrapping in liquid also gives us the meaning, to soak. Pao can be found in words like pao cha, to brew tea. Jin pao, to immerse or to soak. Pao mian, instant noodles. What do you get when you combine fire or with a wrap? Bao, you get a cannon or firework, a tube that wraps a huge amount of fire and explosion to shoot something out. The fire radical means fire or explosion. When you see this radical on the left, the character's meaning is related to heat, fire or something explosive. The character pao is cannon or firework. Da pao, cannon, artillery. Bian pao, firecrackers. Pao dan, artillery shell. The last word we are looking at in the bao family is pao, where we add the radical zhu, which means foot or leg. With bao, the sound body, we get the word pao. Pao means to run. This character is used in many common words related to running and movement. For example, pao bu, to run or jogging. Pao che means sports car. Tao pao means to escape or to flee. The next sound body word we are looking at is gong, which means work. When you combine the silk radical si with the sound body gong, you get the Chinese character hong, red. But why does silk si plus gong mean hong, red? Well, in ancient times, creating a bright lasting red dye for silk was a very difficult and skilled work. Only the best artisans could produce this valuable color. Therefore, the character hong was born from this idea. The red color comes from the skilled work of dyeing silk. The core meaning of hong is red. But it's not just red. It's a vibrant, auspicious red that is central to Chinese culture. Hong jiu, red wine. Wang hong, internet celebrity. Hong se, the color red. What is the most obvious feature of a cave? It's empty inside. Yes, the next character we are looking at is the combination of the cave radical xue plus gong. We get the character kong. Xue by itself means cave or hole. Its job here is to tell you that this character is about a hollow, empty space. Just like the inside of a cave. The core meaning of kong is empty, hollow, or the sky. This character has two pronunciations. One is kong, which means empty. And another one is kong, which is a verb or a noun. When it's used as a verb, it means to empty. And when it's used as a noun, it means free time. What word do you get if you were to combine kong on the left side with li on the right side? You get the word gong, gong ke de gong. Li means strength, force, or effort. It represents the physical or mental power you use. The core meaning of gong is achievement or merit. It is the positive outcome that comes from applying your strength to a task. This character is used in very important and common words like cheng gong, success. Gong neng, function. Yong gong, diligent or hard working. Now let's look at the Chinese character for attack, gong. This is a combination of the sound body gong plus who, the radical. Which we have covered earlier on. The core meaning of gong is to attack, to assault, or to criticize. It is an active, aggressive verb. This character is used in words related to offense and taking initiative. For example, gong ji, to attack, to assault. Jin gong, to launch an offensive. Fan gong, counter attack. So there you have it. You have just found the master key to Chinese characters. Before, you were probably just looking at complicated drawings. It was hard to see any pattern. But now you know the secret. It's like building with Lego blocks. You have one piece that gives you a clue to the meaning. And another piece that gives you a clue to the sound. Put them together and suddenly you are not just memorizing. You are actually understanding. You are seeing the system behind the words. If this video helped you, do me a huge favor. Smash the like button. Subscribe to the channel. And if you want to prove your new skill in the comment, write a sentence using one of the characters you learned today.