Editing Kanji (section)

==Types of kanji by category==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
{{Main|Chinese character classification}}
[[Han-dynasty]] scholar [[Xu Shen]], in his 2nd-century dictionary {{translit|ja|[[Shuowen Jiezi]]}}, classified Chinese characters into six categories ({{zh|c=六書}} {{translit|cmn|liùshū}}, Japanese: {{Nihongo2|六書}} {{translit|ja|rikusho}}). The traditional classification is still taught but is problematic and is no longer the focus of modern lexicographic practice, as some categories are not clearly defined, nor are they mutually exclusive: the first four refer to structural composition, while the last two refer to usage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yamashita |first1=Hiroko |last2=Maru |first2=Yukiko |date=2000 |title=Compositional Features of Kanji for Effective Instruction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/489552 |journal=The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=159–178 |doi=10.2307/489552 |jstor=489552 |issn=0885-9884 |access-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202114943/https://www.jstor.org/stable/489552 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==={{translit|ja|Shōkei moji}} ({{Nihongo2|象形文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Shōkei}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|xiàngxíng}}) characters are [[pictograph]]ic sketches of the object they represent. For example, {{Nihongo2|目}} is an eye, while {{Nihongo2|木}} is a tree. The current forms of the characters are very different from the originals, though their representations are more clear in [[oracle bone script]] and [[seal script]]. These pictographic characters make up only a small fraction of modern characters.

==={{translit|ja|Shiji moji}} ({{Nihongo2|指事文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Shiji}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|zhǐshì}}) characters are [[ideograph]]s, often called "simple ideographs" or "simple indicatives" to distinguish them and tell the difference from compound ideographs (below). They are usually simple graphically and represent an abstract concept such as {{Nihongo2|上}} "up" or "above" and {{Nihongo2|下}} "down" or "below". These make up a tiny fraction of modern characters.

==={{translit|ja|Kaii moji}} ({{Nihongo2|会意文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Kaii}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|huìyì}}) characters are compound ideographs, often called "compound indicatives", "associative compounds", or just "ideographs". These are usually a combination of pictographs that combine semantically to present an overall meaning. An example of this type is {{Nihongo2|休}} (rest) from {{Nihongo2|亻}} (person radical) and {{Nihongo2|木}} (tree). Another is the {{translit|ja|kokuji}} {{Nihongo2|峠}} (mountain pass) made from {{Nihongo2|山}} (mountain), {{Nihongo2|上}} (up) and {{Nihongo2|下}} (down). These make up a tiny fraction of modern characters.

==={{translit|ja|Keisei moji}} ({{Nihongo2|形声文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Keisei}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|xíngshēng}}) characters are phono-semantic or [[Radical (Chinese character)|radical]]-phonetic compounds, sometimes called "semantic-phonetic", "semasio-phonetic", or "phonetic-ideographic" characters, are by far the largest category, making up about 90% of the characters in the standard lists; however, some of the most frequently used kanji belong to one of the three groups mentioned above, so {{translit|ja|keisei moji}} will usually make up less than 90% of the characters in a text. Typically they are made up of two components, one of which (most commonly, but by no means always, the left or top element) suggests the general category of the meaning or semantic context, and the other (most commonly the right or bottom element) approximates the pronunciation. The pronunciation relates to the original Chinese, and may now only be distantly detectable in the modern Japanese {{translit|ja|on'yomi}} of the kanji; it generally has no relation at all to {{translit|ja|kun'yomi}}. The same is true of the semantic context, which may have changed over the centuries or in the transition from Chinese to Japanese. As a result, it is a common error in folk etymology to fail to recognize a phono-semantic compound, typically instead inventing a compound-indicative explanation.

==={{translit|ja|Tenchū moji}} ({{Nihongo2|転注文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Tenchū}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|zhuǎnzhù}}) characters have variously been called "derivative characters", "derivative [[cognate]]s", or translated as "mutually explanatory" or "mutually synonymous" characters; this is the most problematic of the six categories, as it is vaguely defined. It may refer to kanji where the meaning or application has become extended. For example, {{Nihongo2|楽}} is used for 'music' and 'comfort, ease', with different pronunciations in Chinese reflected in the two different {{translit|ja|on'yomi}}, {{translit|ja|gaku}} "music" and {{translit|ja|raku}} "pleasure".

==={{translit|ja|Kasha moji}} ({{Nihongo2|仮借文字}})===
{{translit|ja|Kasha}} (Mandarin: {{translit|cmn|jiǎjiè}}) are [[rebus]]es, sometimes called "phonetic loans". The etymology of the characters follows one of the patterns above, but the present-day meaning is completely unrelated to this. A character was appropriated to represent a similar-sounding word. For example, {{Nihongo2|来}} in ancient Chinese was originally a pictograph for "wheat". Its syllable was homophonous with the verb meaning "to come", and the character is used for that verb as a result, without any embellishing "meaning" element attached. The character for wheat {{Nihongo2|麦}}, originally meant "to come", being a {{translit|ja|keisei moji}} having 'foot' at the bottom for its meaning part and "wheat" at the top for sound. The two characters swapped meaning, so today the more common word has the simpler character. This borrowing of sounds has a very long history.