Chinese script
Characters from Beijing
Chinese script is the writing system used for Chinese and historically adapted for Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Unlike alphabetic systems, it uses thousands of characters (called hanzi or sinographs), each representing a morpheme or word rather than a sound.
Characters combine semantic and phonetic elements, making the system logographically complex.
Learning to read Chinese requires memorizing several thousand characters, though the system has remarkable continuity—texts from over two millennia ago remain partially readable to modern speakers.
- logogramSymbol representing entire word
- radicalRoot-indicating symbol
- HanziChinese logographic writing system
- calligraphyOrnamental handwriting art
- ink brushBristled tool for calligraphy
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Chinese scriptLatin alphabet
Standard Western letter system
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Chinese scriptLatin script
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Roman script · Arabic script · Greek script · Hebrew script · cuneiform