Shuo Wen Jie Zi

Shuo Wen Jie Zi (An Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters), is a reference book for the study of Chinese characters. It was compiled by Xu Shen (58-147), an established scholar and linguist of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Born in Zhaoling, Runan (present-day Luohe, Henan Province), Xu is a trailblazer of Chinese characters, who has been esteemed as the "Sage of Characters" by later generations.

Shuo Wen Jie Zi i s the first dictionary that systematically analyzes the structure and etymology of Chinese characters. It categorizes over 10,000 characters into 540 sections under different radicals, according to which the characters are arranged and sequenced. This method is still used in Chinese dictionaries today.

The book consists of 15 chapters. The first 14 chapters are character entries that explain in detail why and how the characters are so formed and how the form is related to the meaning or pronunciation. The 15th chapter is a postface that records the emergence, development, usage, and structure of characters, as well as the purpose of the author in compiling the book. There are altogether 9,353 character entries, plus 1,163 graphic variants, totaling 10,516 characters.

Shuo Wen Jie Zi is the first dictionary in the Chinese history of linguistics that analyzes the structure of characters, explains their meanings, and identifies their sounds, being reputed as the "cornerstone treatise on characters and philology." It is also an encyclopedia that helps people understand China's ancient history and linguistic and cultural evolution.

《說文解字》

《說文解字》是一部語文工具書。其作者許慎是汝南召陵（今河南省漯河市）人，東漢著名經(jīng)學家、文字學家、語言學家，中國文字學的開拓者，后人尊稱其為“字圣”。

《說文解字》是中國最早系統(tǒng)分析漢字字形和考究字源的語文辭書。這本書從上萬個漢字中，把它們的偏旁和部首區(qū)別出來，歸納為540個部首，開創(chuàng)了按部首編排漢字的方法。直至今日，中國人使用的漢語字典、詞典仍然使用部首檢字法編排。

《說文解字》共15卷，其中前14卷為文字解說，對造字法做出了具體說明，并解釋字形與字義或字音之間的關系。第15卷為敘目，記錄漢字的產(chǎn)生、發(fā)展、功用、結構等，以及作者創(chuàng)作的目的。全書共收錄漢字9353個，另有“重文”（即異體字）1163個，共10516字。

《說文解字》是中國語言學史上第一部分析字形、說解字義、辨識聲讀的字典，被譽為“科學文字學和文獻語言學的奠基之作”?！墩f文解字》還是記錄自然和歷史文化的百科全書，其中保留的大量古代歷史、文化方面的材料，有助于世人了解中國古代歷史和語言文化發(fā)展。