Level 8 · Lesson 6

形声（二）：声旁
Phono-semantic characters 2: the sound part

声旁提示读音，可是只提示一个大概，从来不管声调。

The sound part hints at the reading — approximately, and never at the tone.

你已经会了 · You already know this

你第一级就叫过妈妈，也说过请坐。现在把妈和马放在一起看，再把请、清、晴、情写成一行：妈里藏着马，那四个字里都藏着青。上一课重复的那一半管意思，这一课重复的这一半管读音。

You have been saying 妈妈 and 请坐 since level 1. Put 妈 next to 马, then write 请清晴情 in a row. One component keeps coming back: 马 inside 妈, and 青 inside all four of the others. Last lesson the repeated half carried the meaning. This time it carries the sound.

规则 · The rules

形声字的另一半是声旁，它提示这个字的读音。

规则 1

妈 = 女（形旁）+ 马（声旁），读 mā。

女 says 'a female person', 马 says 'it sounds roughly like mǎ'. Together they give 妈 mā, mother. Most characters cannot be read at all without this half.

声旁多半在右边（妈、河、铜、请），形旁多半在左边。所以看见一个生字，可以先看左边猜意义，再看右边猜读音——两步就完了。别的位置也有：花是上下，园是里外，可是左形右声最多。

Sound part on the right, meaning part on the left is the commonest layout by a wide margin, and it gives you a two-step routine for any unfamiliar character: left for the field, right for the reading. Other arrangements exist — 花 stacks its parts, 园 wraps them — but start with left and right.

声旁只给一个大概的读音，从来不给声调。

规则 2

马 mǎ：妈 mā、吗 ma、码 mǎ、骂 mà。

One sound part, four different readings — first tone, neutral, third and fourth. The consonant and vowel carry over; the tone is on its own.

这一条要记牢。你已经知道声调跟元音一样，是词的一部分：妈和骂不是一个词。所以从声旁猜出 ma 以后，声调还得查、还得听。第一次见到一个字就猜着声调大声读，读错了很难改。

Hold on to this one. You learnt in level 1 that a tone belongs to a word exactly as a vowel does — 妈 and 骂 are not the same word. So once the phonetic has handed you ma, the tone still has to be looked up or heard. Guessing a tone out loud on first sight is how a wrong reading gets learnt.

同一个声旁可以带出一串字，它们的读音相近，意思由形旁分开。

规则 3

青 qīng：请 qǐng、清 qīng、晴 qíng、情 qíng、睛 jīng。

Five characters built on 青. The readings cluster; the meanings are pulled apart by 讠 speech, 氵 water, 日 sun, 忄 feeling and 目 eye. Learn the family as a family.

这样一家一家地学，比一个一个地学快得多。你早就会请、清楚、晴天、心情、眼睛五个词，其实只是一个青加上五个形旁。要注意睛读 jīng，不读 qīng——一家里也有走远的。

Learning them a family at a time is far faster than one at a time. You already say 请, 清楚, 晴天, 心情 and 眼睛 — five words that are one 青 wearing five different meaning parts. Note that 睛 has drifted to jīng, not qīng: even inside a family, some members wander.

两千多年来语音变了，所以有的声旁今天已经不像了。

规则 4

可 kě 在河 hé 里，工 gōng 在江 jiāng 里，每 měi 在海 hǎi 里。

These characters were coined when the readings did match. Two thousand years of sound change later the hint has worn thin — which is why the phonetic is evidence and never proof.

所以声旁是个好帮手，不是个好老师。它能帮你想起一个你听过的字，不能替你决定一个你没听过的字怎么念。不敢肯定的时候就查字典——两课以后我们专门讲怎么查。

The sound part is a good assistant and a poor teacher. It will remind you of a reading you have already heard; it will not settle a reading you have never heard. When you are not sure, look it up — and two lessons from now you will learn exactly how.

一步一步 · Step by step

马到妈

马 — a 独体字, originally a pictograph: horse
女 + 马 — add the meaning part 女 on the left
妈 — 形旁 fixes the class, 声旁 points at the reading
妈读 mā，不读 mǎ — the phonetic never carries the tone
吗 ma・码 mǎ・骂 mà — one sound part, the whole tone range

青的一家

青 — the shared sound part
讠 + 青 — speech → 请 qǐng, to invite, please
氵 + 青 — water → 清 qīng, clear
日 + 青 — sun → 晴 qíng, fine weather
忄 + 青 — feeling → 情 qíng, as in 心情

练习 · Practice

声旁能告诉你什么？ What does a sound part actually tell you?

下面哪一组用的是同一个声旁？ Which group shares one sound part?

「晴」的形旁是日字旁，声旁是 ______。 Name the sound part of 晴.

把青这一家的字和意思配起来。 Match each member of the 青 family to its meaning.