# How are new Chinese characters created?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 23, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712 "2009-01-23T21:26:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ToddEnsz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ToddEnsz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToddEnsz)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712/1 "2009-01-23T21:26:40Z")

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Hello all, I’ve been trying for years to find out the answer to that query with little success. I travel to Hong Kong and mainland China 3 or 4 times a year and no one I’ve talked to in those countries seems to know either.

If I develop a new thing and give it a name based on the Latin alphabet, who would design an ideogram that represents that thing in a country like China? Or what would the process be?

I don’t know why needing to know this is bugging me. But it is. Thanks for any help!

Todd

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712/2 "2009-01-23T21:54:48Z")

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Odds are that your invention would not get a new word/character. It would be use existing words/characters, like how the words for “Coca Cola” are a few existing characters put together in a novel combination.

> **[Branding in Chinese the Coca Cola Story : English to Chinese Symbols :...](https://csymbol.com/chinese/chinese_branding.html)**
>
> English to Chinese Symbols and Chinese Characters chop stamps are a historic part of Chinese typography.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712/3 "2009-01-23T22:30:27Z")

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As I understand it, it’s only the really basic words that get their own character, with most words being two or more characters put together (chosen based on their sound, meaning, or a combination of both). For instance, I remember reading that the Chinese writing of “entropy” includes the character for “fire”, since fire is one of your more common entropic processes.

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712/4 "2009-01-23T22:36:03Z")

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Both the answers so far are mainly correct, but not totally.

I started a [very similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=501256) recently. Some good answers there.

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-new-chinese-characters-created/482712/5 "2009-01-23T22:41:48Z")

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> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> … like how the words for “Coca Cola” are a few existing characters put together in a novel combination.  
> [Branding in Chinese the Coca Cola Story : English to Chinese Symbols : Chinese Characters : Csymbol.com](http://csymbol.com/chinese/chinese_branding.html)

[Bite the wax tadpole](http://www.bitethewaxtadpole.com/bitethewaxtadpole.htm). One of my favorite ULs 😃