Ancient Chinese Dictionary

Author: Xu Wei Xian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: This book includes nearly 10,000 common ancient Chinese characters, excluding those with identical meanings in both ancient and modern contexts that generally do not require reference when reading classical texts. The standardized characters are listed, with traditional characters and variant forms appended in parentheses and brackets. The character forms are based on the General Table of Simplified Characters and the List for the Rectification of Variant Characters, while the character shapes follow the List of Common Print Characters. Some easily misleading characters in the examples are still retained in their traditional or variant forms. Each character is annotated with Pinyin, and variant pronunciations are determined primarily according to the Judicial Pronunciation List of Variants in Colloquial Chinese, with some exceptions handled on a case-by-case basis. Only the more common meanings of characters in classical texts are explained, usually starting with the fundamental and common meanings, followed by extended, metaphorical, and homonymous meanings. Some well-explained proper nouns are not illustrated with examples, while a few meanings are illustrated with common idioms or phrases. Generally, after the explanation, examples are provided to substantiate the meaning. The cited examples specify the book or chapter name, which are kept as concise as possible. The characters are arranged in Pinyin order, with homophones sorted by stroke count and stroke order. Different phonetic entries are subsumed under the same phonetic category, with character headers listed under subsequent phonetic entries and cross-references noted. A Pinyin Syllable Table is provided before the main text, and List of Variant Characters and Single-Character Stroke Index are included after the main text. The List of Variant Characters includes variant forms not listed in the List for the Rectification of Variant Characters. The Single-Character Stroke Index includes the standardized characters listed in the main text and their appended traditional or variant forms.