Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition)
This dictionary is aimed at serious beginning and intermediate students who want a more analytic approach to learning characters. Students who are only interested in the spoken language, and students who are only interested in simplified characters, would benefit more from other dictionaries. The dictionary is structured around traditional etymologies following the Shuowen Jiezi. While not always consistent with contemporary etymological research, these etymologies have been the traditional basis for learning characters for almost 2000 years and have in turn influenced the evolution of character meaning and structure.