形けい声せい

noun

phono-semantic character; semasio-phonetic character

Technical term in Chinese character classification (六書). Refers to characters composed of a semantic component (形旁) and a phonetic component (声旁), which make up the majority of Chinese characters.

See also: 六書

• 「河かわ」は形けい声せい文も字じで、さんずいが意い味みを、可かが音おとを表あらわす。

  「河」 is a phono-semantic character: the water radical indicates meaning, and 可 indicates sound.

• 漢かん字じの約やく九きゅう割わりは形けい声せいに分ぶん類るいされる。

  About 90% of kanji are classified as phono-semantic characters.