Mysteries in Chinese Letters

I've been learning (Simplified Mandarin) Chinese for a couple years and the most fun part about the language is how you can attempt to derive the history of a word from looking at the individual components.

For example, the word "New" is written as 新, which is composed of 亲 ("relatives, parents") and 斤 ("axe").

Fascinating, isn't it? One can vividly imagine how some person in ancient Chinese killed their relatives with an axe and realized that only when the influence of the family is entirely obliterated, the mind is truly open to new concepts, and one is finally free to pursue them as an emancipated individual. There's some good anticollectivist Ayn Rand philosophy embedded right there in the language!

This is of course nonsense. One theory says that 亲 is an ancient Chinese word for the hazelnut tree. 亲+斤 therefore refers to cutting down the tree, hence starting something new. But who cares about history (it's just "his story" anyway) if making up our ownstory is much more fun?

Here are a few selected decompositions to fuel your imagination:

• 新 (new) is composed of 亲 (relatives/parents), 斤 (axe)
• 电视 (television) is composed of 电 (electronic), 礻(cult), 见 (to see/watch/observe)
• 如果 (if) is composed of 女 (female), 口 (orifice), 果 (fruit)
• 家 (family) is composed of 宀 (roof), 豕 (pig)
• 奸 (evil) is composed of 女 (female), 干 (dry)
• 爱 (love) is composed of 爪 (claw), 冖 (lid/enclosure), 友 (friend).

I'm going to leave you with my favorite emoji: 目_目氵

The eyes are the actual Chinese word for "eye", and the sweat drops on the side literally mean "water" in Chinese.

Does it enrage you that the mouth is not a Chinese word, but a plain and boring underscore? No problem, you can express your rage by using 口, the Chinese word for "mouth/orifice": 目口目氵