Reference · cumulative
Every component taught across all lessons, in one place. This table only grows — nothing taught is removed, so you can always look a component up here instead of hunting through old lessons. Sorted by the lesson it was first introduced in.
| Component | Variant | Pinyin | Core meaning | Type | First taught |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 人 | 亻 (left side) | rén | person | semantic | Lesson 1 |
| 木 | — | mù | tree, wood | semantic | Lesson 1 |
| 水 | 氵 (left side) | shuǐ | water | semantic | Lesson 1 |
| 口 | — | kǒu | mouth, opening | semantic | Lesson 1 |
| 日 | — | rì | sun, day | semantic | Lesson 1 |
| 女 | — | nǚ | woman, female | semantic | Lesson 2 |
| 子 | — | zǐ | child, son (often an empty suffix, e.g. 桌子) | semantic / empty | Lesson 2 |
| 大 | — | dà | big, large | semantic | Lesson 3 |
| 中 | — | zhōng | middle, center | semantic | Lesson 3 |
| 小 | — | xiǎo | small, little | semantic | Lesson 3 |
| 上 | — | shàng | up, above, on | indicative (指事) | Lesson 4 |
| 下 | — | xià | down, below, off | indicative (指事) | Lesson 4 |
| 出 | — | chū | out, go out, exceed | semantic (itself composed — see below) | Lesson 4 |
| 入 | — | rù | enter, into | semantic | Lesson 4 |
| 止 | — | zhǐ | stop, halt (originally "foot") | semantic | Lesson 4 |
| 一 | — | yī | one | numeral (指事) | Lesson 5 |
| 二 | — | èr | two | numeral (指事) | Lesson 5 |
| 三 | — | sān | three | numeral (指事) | Lesson 5 |
| 十 | — | shí | ten | numeral | Lesson 5 |
| 四 | — | sì | four | numeral (phonetic loan) | Lesson 6 |
| 五 | — | wǔ | five | numeral (origin uncertain) | Lesson 6 |
| 六 | — | liù | six | numeral (likely phonetic loan) | Lesson 6 |
| 七 | — | qī | seven | numeral | Lesson 6 |
| 八 | — | bā | eight (original meaning "to divide") | numeral | Lesson 6 |
| 九 | — | jiǔ | nine (originally "elbow") | numeral | Lesson 6 |
| 山 | — | shān | mountain, hill | semantic | Lesson 7 |
| 火 | 灬 (bottom) | huǒ | fire | semantic | Lesson 7 |
| 土 | — | tǔ | earth, soil | semantic | Lesson 7 |
| 月 | — | yuè | moon, month (careful: ⺼ "meat" looks identical as a component, e.g. in 背/肝) | semantic | Lesson 8 |
| 天 | — | tiān | sky, heaven, day | semantic (itself composed — see below) | Lesson 8 |
| 年 | — | nián | year | numeral-adjacent (modern shape isn't decomposable — memorize whole) | Lesson 8 |
| 百 | — | bǎi | hundred | numeral (itself composed — see below) | Lesson 9 |
| 千 | — | qiān | thousand | numeral (itself composed — see below) | Lesson 9 |
| 金 | 钅 (left side) | jīn | gold, metal, money | semantic | Lesson 10 |
| 贝 | — | bèi | shell, cowrie (historical money) | semantic | Lesson 10 |
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Built from | First taught |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 休 | xiū | rest | 亻 + 木 (person leaning on a tree) | Lesson 1 |
| 林 | lín | forest, grove | 木 + 木 (two trees) | Lesson 1 |
| 好 | hǎo | good, well, fine | 女 + 子 (woman with child) | Lesson 2 |
| 如 | rú | as, like, in accordance with | 女 + 口 (a woman's word, obeyed) | Lesson 2 |
| 太 | tài | too, excessively; very | 大 + 丶 (big, plus an extra dot) | Lesson 3 |
| 出 | chū | out, go out, exceed | 止 + 凵 (a foot stepping out of a pit). 凵 ("pit, cave") is not a taught component — it's named for accuracy only, see Lesson 4. | Lesson 4 |
| 森 | sēn | forest, dense woods | 木 + 木 + 木 (three trees — denser than 林) | Lesson 7 |
| 炎 | yán | blaze, flame; inflammation | 火 + 火 (fire doubled) | Lesson 7 |
| 仙 | xiān | immortal, fairy | 亻 + 山 (person retreating to the mountains; 山 here is also phonetic) | Lesson 7 |
| 天 | tiān | sky, heaven, day | 一 + 大 (a person, with the sky marked above their head) | Lesson 8 |
| 明 | míng | bright | 日 + 月 (sun and moon together — dawn) | Lesson 8 |
| 千 | qiān | thousand | 一 + 人 (number marker + 人 as a phonetic stand-in, not "person" in meaning) | Lesson 9 |
| 百 | bǎi | hundred | 一 + 白 (number marker + phonetic 白 "white," not taught — see Lesson 9) | Lesson 9 |
| 贵 | guì | expensive, precious, noble | ? + 贝 (an obscure, untaught top piece + the real "shell/money" bottom) | Lesson 10 |
| 钱 | qián | money | 钅 (metal) + 戋 (phonetic, not taught — see Lesson 10) | Lesson 10 |
Type follows Outlier Linguistics' Functional Component Framework: semantic components hint at meaning, phonetic components hint at sound, a component can be both, and some are "form" or "empty" components with no remaining function. See Outlier Dictionary of Chinese Characters.
These are not new fused characters like 好 or 太 above — each is two already-complete characters placed side by side to form a two-character word, the most common pattern in modern Mandarin vocabulary.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Built from | First taught |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 出口 | chūkǒu | exit | 出 (out) + 口 (opening) | Lesson 4 |
| 入口 | rùkǒu | entrance | 入 (in) + 口 (opening) | Lesson 4 |
| 明天 | míngtiān | tomorrow | 明 (bright) + 天 (day) — "the next bright day" | Lesson 8 |
A third combining pattern, distinct from both tables above: characters concatenate by arithmetic rather than fusing or forming a vocabulary word. A digit before 十 multiplies it; a digit after 十 adds to it.
| Number | Pinyin | Value | Built from | First taught |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 十一 | shí yī | 11 | 十 (ten) + 一 (one) — digit after 十 adds | Lesson 5 |
| 二十 | èr shí | 20 | 二 (two) + 十 (ten) — digit before 十 multiplies | Lesson 5 |
| 二十三 | èr shí sān | 23 | 二十 (twenty) + 三 (three) | Lesson 5 |
| 五十 | wǔ shí | 50 | 五 (five) + 十 (ten) | Lesson 6 |
| 八十六 | bā shí liù | 86 | 八 (eight) + 十 (ten) + 六 (six) | Lesson 6 |
| 九十九 | jiǔ shí jiǔ | 99 | 九 (nine) + 十 (ten) + 九 (nine) | Lesson 6 |
| 一百 | yī bǎi | 100 | 一 (one) + 百 (hundred) — 百 needs a leading 一, unlike 十 | Lesson 9 |
| 三百六十 | sān bǎi liù shí | 360 | 三百 (3×100) + 六十 (6×10) | Lesson 9 |
| 一千 | yī qiān | 1,000 | 一 (one) + 千 (thousand) | Lesson 9 |