Note 166 — Chapter IV · ETHNIC CHARACTERS.

The two hundred and fourteen “keys” or hieroglyphics comparable with the hieratic characters of Egypt—that is to say, ideograms representing categories of objects or symbolising general ideas—joined to a thousand phonetic signs, suffice by their combinations to convey a definite sense to the series of homophonous hieroglyphics forming the forty-four thousand characters of Chinese handwriting. Thus the word or syllable pa signifies banana, war-chariot, scar, cry, etc. To distinguish the various acceptations of the word, there must be joined to the phonetic sign pa (derived from a word the proper sense of which has long been obliterated) the key of plants, or that of iron, of diseases, of the mouth, according to the sense which it is desired to give to it. The monosyllabic structure of Chinese lends itself admirably to this hieroglyphic writing.