Female Chinese Dictionary

Author: Chen Qiguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: "Nushu" is the world's only female-specific writing system. Professor Chen Qiguang's Nushu Dictionary collects over 500 Nushu scripts and organizes 3,435 Nushu characters, compiling this dictionary that explains the origins, forms, pronunciations, and meanings of these characters. As a unique "fossil" of human culture, Nushu holds significant value for studying the origins of writing, civilization, women's culture, and the development of civilization.
I. Entries
1. This dictionary uses individual Nushu characters as entries, totaling 3,435 entries. Nushu characters with differences in form (e.g., stroke shapes, stroke lengths, stroke positions, stroke application) are listed as separate entries.
2. The collected Nushu characters are arranged in order of increasing stroke count. When stroke counts are the same, characters without dots or circles are listed first, followed by those with dots but no circles, and finally those with circles but no dots. Characters with dots or circles are arranged by the number of dots or circles in ascending order. Characters with both dots and circles are listed after those with the same number of dots.
II. Origin
3. This dictionary indicates the origin of each Nushu character, noting which Chinese character (enclosed in quotation marks) it evolved from. For some characters whose origins are not yet determined, the enclosed Chinese character remains empty for future.
4. Some Nushu characters are homophones derived from different Chinese characters. This dictionary distinguishes their origins, listing commonly used characters first and rare ones afterward.
III. Pronunciation
5. Each Nushu character is annotated with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) based on the phonetic system of Baishui Village, Jiangyong County, Hunan Province.
6. Baishui dialect has both literary and colloquial pronunciations, which appear in different contexts. This dictionary marks the actual pronunciation but does not add "literary" or "colloquial."
7. For Nushu characters with multiple pronunciations, the original pronunciation is listed first, followed by alternative similar pronunciations, with closer ones listed before those with greater differences. If the initial consonant and final vowel are the same but the tone differs, they are arranged in the order 44 (high level), 41 (mid falling), 35 (high rising), 21 (low falling), 33 (mid rising), and 55 (high falling).
8. Some Nushu characters have pronunciations that are not their original ones but rather those of their synonyms. These "instructional readings" are marked as such rather than by the original pronunciation.
9. Instructional readings include original-character readings, homophone substitutions, and near-sound borrowings, all explained in the origin section.
IV. Definitions
10. The meanings of Nushu characters are mostly traceable to their original Chinese characters, which are written in traditional characters and listed first. Other meanings with the same pronunciation are also listed separately in Chinese.
11. For Nushu characters or meanings that cannot be traced to their original Chinese characters, their meanings are translated using synonymous Chinese characters (enclosed in quotation marks).
V. Examples
12. Each meaning is illustrated with one Nushu sentence but without phonetic annotation. To save space, the sources of the examples are not noted.
13. Nushu examples are either written in Chinese or translated. Due to dialectal differences and writing styles, some Chinese examples may be difficult to understand. Refer to the relevant appendices at the end of the main text for clarification.