<p>Unlike alphabets in English, each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase,</p>

<p>For example, <strong>明</strong> contains the following meanings:</p>

<p>[1] bright; light; brilliant </p>

<p>[2] clear; understandable; [v] clarify; understand; obvious; evident </p>

<p>[3] intelligent; clever </p>

<p>[4] eyesight; seeing faculty</p>

<p>[5] day; daybreak; dawn </p>

<p>[6] [v] state; show; assert </p>

<p>[7] next (day or year)</p>

<p>[8] the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) </p>

<p>[9] a Chinese family name</p>

<p>With only one character, it is too general to know which meaning it is referred to, therefore we need to add a second character to form a specific term :</p>

<p>[1] 光(light) + <strong>明</strong>(bright) = <strong>光明</strong>(bright)</p>

<p>[2] <strong>明</strong>(clear) + 白(plain) = <strong>明白</strong>(understand)</p>

<p>[3] 聰(clever) + <strong>明</strong>(intelligent) = <strong>聰明</strong>(intelligent)</p>

<p>[4] 復(recover) + <strong>明</strong> (eyesight) = <strong>復明</strong>(regain eyesight)</p>

<p>[5] 天(sky) + <strong>明</strong>(daybreak)= <strong>天明</strong>(daybreak) </p>

<p>[6] 聲(voice) + <strong>明</strong>(state)= <strong>聲明</strong>(announce)</p>

<p>[7] <strong>明</strong>(next) + 天(day) = <strong>明天</strong>(tomorrow)</p>

<p>[8] <strong>明</strong>(Ming) + 朝(dynasty)= <strong>明朝</strong>(Ming dynasty)</p>

<p>[9] <strong>明</strong>(Ming) + 先生(Mr.) = <strong>明先生</strong>(Mr. Ming)</p>

<p>In some instances, the context would indicate which meaning of a character is referred, therefore using one character is possible; in other instances, a character only contains one single meaning, therefore is possible to be used alone.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T12:31:10.790Z
Okay, this makes sense. Until now I thought that some characters have gone out of usage in their stand-alone meaning and only remained in 2+ character combinations. Your explanation is very nice, thanks!
MrVocabulary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T13:32:33.587Z
Some noun can stand alone. E.g. 牛，猫， 狗
mootmoot
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T15:27:38.937Z
@mootmoot I know that -- I just wasn't sure if all chars could be used alone as well =]
MrVocabulary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-24T14:03:58.937Z
The problem here is that dictionaries don't provide enough explanation on whether a character (one syllable) can be used alone or not in a CONVERSATION (not in a written text). I think this is the most difficult issue about Chinese to foreign students, and the experts simply don't give a damn on trying to solve this.
Enrico Brasil
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-25T13:44:04.690Z
My thoughts exactly. In the dictionaries I have seen so far there's little to no information on the register.
MrVocabulary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-31T01:16:58.853Z
This doesn't answer the question at all. The question is, how can one find out whether a character can be a word by itself? If I'm presented with a particular character, what sources are there that tells me whether I can use it by itself or not.
JBentley
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T12:22:48.527Z
2016-11-17T12:22:48.527Z
Tang Ho
<p>This question might be weird, but I haven't been able to find an answer to this.</p>

<p>Some characters seem to be used only in combination with other characters. For instance, I believe 儿 cannot be used for a child unless you make expressions such as 奴儿, 儿子, 儿童 etc. But how to know this?</p>

<p>When translating words into Chinese, dictionaries I know only state it's a Kangxi radical or not, but I haven't seen any information explicitly stating "this character is not a stand-alone one". Is there a way to find this information for Mandarin?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-17T12:07:23.433Z
So I can use 屋，戶 separately as well?
MrVocabulary
<mandarin><characters><character-identification>
How to determine if character can be used separetely?
# How to determine if character can be used separetely?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-11-17)

This question might be weird, but I haven't been able to find an answer to this.

Some characters seem to be used only in combination with other characters. For instance, I believe 儿 cannot be used for a child unless you make expressions such as 奴儿, 儿子, 儿童 etc. But how to know this?

When translating words into Chinese, dictionaries I know only state it's a Kangxi radical or not, but I haven't seen any information explicitly stating "this character is not a stand-alone one". Is there a way to find this information for Mandarin?

**Tags:** mandarin, characters, character-identification
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So I can use 屋，戶 separately as well?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-11-17. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Unlike alphabets in English, each Chinese character has its own meaning or meanings. A single character, usually cannot clearly express a specific meaning, therefore two characters would combine into a specific word, and two words may combine into one specific phase,

For example, **明** contains the following meanings:

[1] bright; light; brilliant

[2] clear; understandable; [v] clarify; understand; obvious; evident

[3] intelligent; clever

[4] eyesight; seeing faculty

[5] day; daybreak; dawn

[6] [v] state; show; assert

[7] next (day or year)

[8] the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.)

[9] a Chinese family name

With only one character, it is too general to know which meaning it is referred to, therefore we need to add a second character to form a specific term :

[1] 光(light) + **明**(bright) = **光明**(bright)

[2] **明**(clear) + 白(plain) = **明白**(understand)

[3] 聰(clever) + **明**(intelligent) = **聰明**(intelligent)

[4] 復(recover) + **明** (eyesight) = **復明**(regain eyesight)

[5] 天(sky) + **明**(daybreak)= **天明**(daybreak)

[6] 聲(voice) + **明**(state)= **聲明**(announce)

[7] **明**(next) + 天(day) = **明天**(tomorrow)

[8] **明**(Ming) + 朝(dynasty)= **明朝**(Ming dynasty)

[9] **明**(Ming) + 先生(Mr.) = **明先生**(Mr. Ming)

In some instances, the context would indicate which meaning of a character is referred, therefore using one character is possible; in other instances, a character only contains one single meaning, therefore is possible to be used alone.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Okay, this makes sense. Until now I thought that some characters have gone out of usage in their stand-alone meaning and only remained in 2+ character combinations. Your explanation is very nice, thanks!  
> **username_2**: Some noun can stand alone. E.g. 牛，猫， 狗  
> **username_0**: @mootmoot I know that -- I just wasn't sure if all chars could be used alone as well =]  
> **username_3**: The problem here is that dictionaries don't provide enough explanation on whether a character (one syllable) can be used alone or not in a CONVERSATION (not in a written text). I think this is the most difficult issue about Chinese to foreign students, and the experts simply don't give a damn on trying to solve this.  
> **username_0**: My thoughts exactly. In the dictionaries I have seen so far there's little to no information on the register.  
> **username_4**: This doesn't answer the question at all. The question is, how can one find out whether a character can be a word by itself? If I'm presented with a particular character, what sources are there that tells me whether I can use it by itself or not.  

---

