As the first stroke of 活 is “ 、”, locate 活 under “、”.
、
…
活 huó
(iii) Turn to huó in the dictionary.
huó 活...
6.4 By English Meaning
To find out the Chinese equivalent or near-equivalent of an English word, use the English-Chinese Word Finder, which is practically a handy English-Chinese dictionary. Chinese equivalents or near-equivalents of over 6,000 English words are listed alphabetically in the Finder.
For example, to find out what airport is in Chinese, turn to “A” in the Finder and locate airport in the list of words beginning with “A”:
airport fēijī chǎng 飞机场 55, jīchǎng 机场 86The entry for 飞机场 fēijī chǎng is found on page 55 and the entry for 机场 jīchǎng, on page 86.
It is my firm belief that learners of Chinese will find this dictionary a valuable learning aid.
List 1
Meaningful Character Components
Most of Chinese characters are made up of two or more component parts. “Signific graphs” (义 符 yìfú) are components that suggest the meaning of characters. Hence, learning the meaning of these component parts will deepen your understanding of characters you know, and help you guess the meaning of unfamiliar characters. The following is a list of such meaningful character components.
冫= freezing, ice (e.g. 冰 bīng, 冷 lěng, 寒 hán)
讠, 言 = word (e.g. 语 yǔ, 词 cí)
八 = dividing (e.g. 分 fēn, 半 bàn)
亻, 人 = man, person (e.g. 他 tā, 信 xìn)
刂, 刀 = knife (e.g. 利 lì, 剩 shèng)
力 = muscle, strength (e.g. 男 nán, 办 bàn)
阝 (on the left) = mound, steps (e.g. 院 yuàn, 附 fù)
阝 (on the right) = city, region (e.g. 部 bù, 邮 yóu)
氵, 水 = water (e.g. 河 hé, 海 hǎi)
忄, 心 = the heart, emotions (e.g. 情 qíng, 怕 pà)
宀 = roof, house (e.g. 家 jiā, 室 shì)
广 = roof, hut (e.g. 庭 tíng, 店 diàn)
门 = door, gate (e.g. 闻 wén, 间 jiān)
土 = earth (e.g. 场 chǎng, 城 chéng)
女 = woman (e.g. 妇 fù, 妈 mā)
饣, 食 = food (e.g. 饭 fàn, 饱 bǎo)
口 = the mouth, speech, eating (e.g. 问 wèn, 吃 chī)
囗 = boundary (e.g. 围 wéi, 园 yuán)
子, 孑 = child (e.g. 孩 hái, 学 xué)
艹 = plant, vegetation (e.g. 草 cǎo, 菜 cài)
纟 = silk, texture (e.g. 组 zǔ, 纸 zhǐ)
辶 = walking (e.g. 道 dào, 过 guò)
彳 = path, walking (e.g. 行 xíng, 往 wǎng)
巾 = cloth (e.g. 布 bù, 带 dài)
马 = horse (e.g. 骑 qí)
扌, 手, 攵 = the hand, action (e.g. 拿 ná, 擦 cā)
灬 , 火 = fire, heat (e.g. 烧 shāo, 热 rè)
礻, 示 = spirit (e.g. 神 shén, 祖 zǔ)
户 = door, window (e.g. 房 fáng)
父 = father (e.g. 爸 bà)
日 = the sun (e.g. 晴 qíng, 暖 nuǎn)
月 = the moon (e.g. 阴 yīn, 明 míng)
月, 肉 = flesh, human organ (e.g. 脸 liǎn, 脚 jiǎo)
贝 = shell, treasure (e.g. 贵 guì)
止 = toe (e.g. 步 bù)
木 = tree, timber (e.g. 树 shù, 板 bǎn)
王, 玉 = jade (e.g. 理 lǐ, 球 qiú)
见 = seeing (e.g. 视 shì, 现 xiàn)
气 = vapor (e.g. 汽 qì)
车 = vehicle (e.g. 辆 liàng)
疒 = disease, ailment (e.g. 病 bìng, 疼 téng)
立 = standing (e.g. 站 zhàn, 位 wèi)
穴 = cave, hole (e.g. 空 kōng, 窗 chuāng)
衤, 衣 = clothing (e.g. 裤 kù, 袜 wà)
钅, 金 = metal (e.g. 银 yín, 钱 qián)
石 = stone, rock (e.g. 碗 wǎn, 磁 cí)
目 = the eye (e.g. 眼 yǎn, 睡 shuì)
田 = farm, field (e.g. 界 jiè, 里 lǐ)
禾 = seedling, crop (e.g. 种 zhǒng, 秋 qiū)
鸟 = bird (e.g. 鸡 jī)
米 = rice (e.g. 糖 táng, 精 jīng)
舌 = the tongue (e.g. 话 huà, 活 huó)
舟 = boat (e.g. 船 chuán)
酉 = fermentation (e.g. 酒 jiǔ)
走 = walking (e.g. 起 qǐ)
List 2
Measure Words
Measure words are a special feature of Chinese. A particular measure word, or set of measure words, occurs with each noun whenever one is speaking of numbers. The measure word may function like a collective noun (like a pride [of lions] or a school [of fish]) or may be related to the shape of the object. Noun phrases using measure words often have the structure “number + measure word + noun,” e.g.
■ 一把刀 yì bǎ dāo a knife
■ 两道难题 liǎng dào nántí two difficult questions
Some measure words occur with verbs, and may be related to the frequency or duration of the action. For verbs, the expression may have the structure “verb + number + measure word,” e.g.
■ 看了三遍 kànle sān biàn read three times
■ 去过两次 qùguo liǎng cì have been ... twice
bǎ 把 for objects with handles; a handful
bān 班 class (in school)
bèi 倍 fold, time
běn 本 for books
bǐ 笔 for a sum of money
biàn 遍 times, indicating the frequency of an action done in its complete duration from the beginning to the end
cè 册 volume (books)
céng 层 story, floor
chǎng 场 for movies, sport events
chǐ 尺 a traditional Chinese unit