Chinese dictionaryThere are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: 'character dictionaries' (字典; zìdiǎn) list individual Chinese characters, and 'word dictionaries' (辞典; 辭典; cídiǎn) list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have developed a number of methods to order and sort characters to facilitate more convenient reference.
PiyaThe Piya (Chinese: 埤雅; pinyin: Píyǎ; Wade–Giles: P'i-ya; "Increased [Er]ya") was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian (陸佃/陆佃, 1042–1102). He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi (爾雅新義 "New Exegesis of the Erya") commentary.
Joseph NeedhamNoel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initiating publication of the multivolume Science and Civilisation in China. He called attention to what has come to be known as the Needham Question, of why and how China had ceded its leadership in science and technology to Western countries.
W. South CoblinWeldon South Coblin, Jr. (born February 26, 1944) is an American Sinologist, linguist, and educator, best known for his studies of Chinese linguistics and Tibetan. Life and careerCoblin attended the University of Washington as an undergraduate student, graduating with a B.A. in Chinese in 1967. He then continued on at Washington as a graduate student under the Belgian Sinologist and Roman Catholic clergyman Fr.
Victor H. MairVictor Henry Mair (; March 25, 1943 – June 28, 2026) was an American sinologist and professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Mair was the editor of the Columbia History of Chinese Literature and the Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature and was the series editor of the Cambria Sinophone World Series (Cambria Press).
Song dynastyThe Song dynasty ( SUUNG) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia, and Jin dynasties in northern China.
James LeggeJames Legge (; 20 December 1815 – 29 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–1873) and was the first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University (1876–1897).
Chinese languageChinese (spoken: simplified Chinese: 汉语; traditional Chinese: 漢語; pinyin: Hànyǔ, written: 中文; Zhōngwén) is a collection of language varieties containing almost all Sinitic languages except Macro-Bai languages, natively spoken by the Han Chinese and some ethnic minorities in Greater China, as well as by communities of the overseas Chinese.
PinyinScheme for the Chinese Phonetic AlphabetSimplified ChineseTraditional ChineseLiteral meaningscheme of spelled Han language sounds This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see .
Bernhard KarlgrenKlas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (Swedish pronunciation:; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods.Chinese character classificationChinese characters are generally logographs, but can be further categorized based on the manner of their creation or derivation. Some characters may be analysed structurally as compounds created from smaller components, while some are not decomposable in this way. A small number of characters originate as pictographs and ideographs, but the vast majority are what are called phono-semantic compounds, which involve an element of pronunciation in their meaning.
Interlinear glossIn linguistics and pedagogy, an interlinear gloss is a gloss (series of brief explanations, such as definitions or pronunciations) placed between lines, such as between a line of original text and its translation into another language. When glossed, each line of the original text acquires one or more corresponding lines of transcription known as an interlinear text or interlinear glossed text (IGT) – an interlinear for short.
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