ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

to transform; -ize

Where 化 comes from

Two figures, one upright and one flipped — a person turning over, becoming something else. The purest picture of transformation in the whole script.

化 in Chinese culture

变化 change, 文化 culture ('transformation through writing'), 化学 chemistry ('the study of transformations'). Modern Chinese bolts 化 onto anything to make '-ize': 现代化 modernize, 绿化 green-ify.

Example

How to remember it

One person upright, one flipped — TRANSFORMATION.

化 is the suffix engine of modern Chinese: globalization 全球化, digitization 数字化 — new '-izations' are coined weekly.

Same sound, different tones

Words unlocked by 化

Related characters

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