造字

zàozì
verb

Meanings

  1. 1 to create characters
  2. 2 to coin a new character

Examples

HSK 5
Cāng Jié zàozì shì Zhōngguó gǔlǎo de chuánshuō.
Cang Jie inventing writing is an old Chinese legend.
HSK 6
Liùshū jiǎng de shì gǔrén zàozì hé yòngzì de fāngfǎ.
The six categories describe the ways the ancients made and used characters.

Tips

culture
Legend credits 仓颉, historian to the Yellow Emperor, 黄帝, with inventing writing, and says that when he did, grain rained from the sky and ghosts wept at night. 武则天 had more than a dozen new characters made, among them 曌 for her own name: a sun and a moon above the sky.

Stroke Order

造 zào
字 zì