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During studying 条 character in one of the dictionaries I have found decomposition of this character to two components:

  • 夂 zhǐ: to go
  • 木 mù: tree; wood (Kangxi radical 75)

I see the 夂 component but I am not sure of 木. Should it not be 小 or something similar instead to 木? When I've enlarged the font it resembles 小 without the horizontal stroke.

deutschZuid
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Wodzu
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  • Even after the form changing process, it still resembles 小 with a horizontal stroke. Why do you say it's without a horizontal stroke? – Betty Jun 06 '12 at 04:45

3 Answers3

1

That decomposition is incorrect.

「条」is shorthand for「條」(Pinyin: tiáo, Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese: /*[l]ˤiw/, /*lˤiw/), which is composed of phonetic「攸」(Pinyin: yōu, Baxter-Sagart Old Chinese: /*liw/) and semantic「木」(wood).「木」sometimes looks like「ホ」when written on the bottom of characters; exact shapes vary between the standards of different regions.

The appearance of「夂」is a writing convention;「夂」doesn't contribute any semantic or phonetic function in「条」. At most, it can be seen as an abbreviation of「攸」.

dROOOze
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It has to be 木, 条 means 'twig' originally

Fivesheep
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条's radical is 木. That's an established fact. Just consult any Chinese dictionary. It's derived from 条's old form (旧字形), which lacks the tick.

deutschZuid
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  • I'm not sure what you mean by "the tick" when you say the traditional form would not have the tick. Could you include a form of the character with and without the tick? I found the simplified version, 条, and the traditional version, 條, but the traditional form has more strokes, not fewer. – Don Kirkby Jun 07 '12 at 20:11
  • He said old = 旧字形, not traditional = 繁体字. Here's a link with some older forms and a character analysis. This one is particularly clear. – Stumpy Joe Pete Jun 21 '12 at 12:33
  • I was partially wrong. I removed the part about the tick not being present in texts from regions outside mainland China. My memory played a trick on me there. – deutschZuid Jun 21 '12 at 20:40
  • Looks like it's not present in Japanese use of the character (same Unicode code point, different fonts, so I can only give a link ) – Stumpy Joe Pete Jun 22 '12 at 03:06
  • Hmm... I just looked it up on Wiktionary http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9D%A1 and it seems that my original speculation was correct. It might also have to do with the font used. I will have to confirm with someone who uses the Traditional Chinese script natively. – deutschZuid Jun 22 '12 at 04:20
  • Maybe you could edit in some pictures or something? – Stumpy Joe Pete Jun 24 '12 at 15:06
  • The government of mainland China is now considering changing the 木 with tick to that without tick as the standard writing. Seems that the public is unhappy with this change... – user58955 Sep 25 '13 at 05:52
  • @user58955 Do you have sources for that? That would be interesting. – deutschZuid Sep 26 '13 at 02:49
  • for instance, see http://www.china.com.cn/culture/txt/2009-08/26/content_18402109.htm and http://culture.people.com.cn/GB/22219/9902864.html – user58955 Sep 26 '13 at 02:54