interchangeable use of homophonic characters in classical Chinese
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesverb
to use interchangeably (of Chinese characters with similar or identical pronunciation in classical texts); to borrow a character for its sound value
technicalA technical term in Chinese philology describing the phenomenon in pre-modern texts where one character is borrowed to represent another with the same or similar pronunciation, distinct from 古今字 (ancient vs. modern forms) and 异体字 (variant forms).
Gǔ古
Hàn汉
yǔ语
zhōng中
"
Zǎo蚤
"
cháng常
tōng通
"
Zǎo早
"
。
In classical Chinese, the character "zao" (flea) was often used interchangeably for "zao" (early).
"
Xìn信
"
tōng通
"
Shēn伸
"
shì是
cháng常
jiàn见
de的
tōng通
jiǎ假
xiàn现
xiàng象
。
The use of "xin" for "shen" (to stretch) is a common example of character interchangeability.
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Tōng通
jiǎ假
zì字
shì是
yán研
jiū究
gǔ古
dài代
wén文
xiàn献
de的
zhòng重
yào要
gài概
niàn念
。
Interchangeable characters are an important concept for studying ancient texts.