Lovely Chinese: 東

東: 篆書(one of the calligraphies)


東: 隸書(one of the calligraphies)


東: 楷書(one of the calligraphies)


東: 行書(one of the calligraphies)



東:簡體漢字(simplifed Chinese)

There are four different calligraphies from the top to the forth: You still can recognize 東 if based on the rule of combination(日and 木). But you couldn’t find any rule in the simplified version 東. 東 has lost it's original derivation.

*東(東)dōng:　 east

部首Radical: 木(tree)

形聲Phonetic: 東itself could be a root

會意Combination:
The upper side is sun 日,
The lower side is tree 木,
When the sun rises up to the top of the tree, that direction is east 東.

單字Vocabulary:
日、木、東(東)。

造詞Make a word:
東西: dōng xī : direction; east and west
東西: dōng xi : things. 東西 is a general noun most often used for material things. 東西 has no specific name. It stands for some uncertain thing between the eastern (東) and the western (西) horizon in front of you. It's not covenient to list them one by one. Therefore, call it 東西 in general.

成語Idiom:
東張西望To look at here and there (right and left), but not focus on some fixed point.

造句Make a sentence:
他東張西望，好像在找東西。He looks at here and there, as if looking for something.

文化概述Culture note:
Note 什麼東西 could be a metaphor for "nothing" as well, and this is a negative expression. If a person is very superficial and arrogant, and often criticizes other people and complains about anything, people might dislike the way this persons acts. They would look down on him and question him like “他算什麼東西" with the tone of disparaging, namely that this person is "nothing" at all!

The Chinese society emphasizes modesty and cultivation very much. Even if someone's performance is good and gets praised from many people, his response to the public would probably be like “不敢”(I wouldn’t dare) to express his modesty. This does not mean that he is scared of performing well or that he lacks confidence. The real meaning inside “不敢” is that “He's afraid he might not be good enough YET.” This kind of modest response is based on the discipline of Confucianism. Its "doctrine" has influenced the Chinese People for more than a thousand years.