Variant characters refer to the forms of Chinese characters that are different from commonly used words but have the same or similar meanings. It is a variant of Chinese characters. Variant characters have a long history and are formed for many reasons, including the writing habits, writing skills, dislocation or deliberate creation of different regions and people in ancient times. The following are some common questions about variant characters and their explanations.
1. Definition of variant characters: variant characters are glyphs with different forms but the same or similar meanings. It is often caused by the differences in writing forms in different historical periods, different regions or different cultural backgrounds.
2. The relationship between variant and traditional Chinese characters: In traditional Chinese characters, the glyphs of some words are preserved and become a part of traditional Chinese characters. Some of these traditional characters may belong to the category of variant characters. So traditional Chinese characters can contain variants, but not all traditional Chinese characters are variants.
3. Use of variant characters: Generally speaking, standard glyphs are commonly used in modern characters. The use of variant characters is relatively rare, which usually appears in specific fields such as ancient books, medical prescriptions and ancient prose research. For ordinary readers, understanding variant characters is mainly to better understand the changes and historical information of characters when reading ancient books or professional documents.
4. Characteristics of variant characters: The characteristics of variant characters are mainly reflected in the glyphs. They may be different from common words in radical, structure and strokes.
5. Evolution and standardization of variant characters: With the formulation and popularization of Chinese writing norms, the use of variant characters is gradually restricted. Modern Chinese character writing norms mainly adopt common glyphs, and are also mainly used to compile dictionaries and educational materials. This has led to the less use or gradual elimination of some variant characters.
6. Academic research on variant forms: the research on variant forms is an important direction of Chinese character research. In the study of variant forms, scholars not only pay attention to the formation and evolution of variant forms, but also discuss their significance and value from the perspectives of linguistics, culturology and history.
Examples of variant forms
Door and door: both words mean door, but the font is a little different. Door is a common font in modern times, and door is its variant form.
Long, long: these two words also mean long, but the font is different. Dragon is a common font in modern times, and dragon is its variant.
Guo and Guo: These two characters both represent Guo, but there are some differences in the shape. Guo is a commonly used glyph in modern times, and Guo is its variant form.