Radical 二

4 strokes

one 一 (1) + pedestal 兀 (301a) = yuan 元

This has several meanings: “first”; “chief ”; “unit”; “yuan”. The last of these is the unit of currency in China, and we will use “yuan” as the soundword in the resulting phonetic series.

Clearly we could also regard this character as “two” plus “boy”. We will be meeting “pedestal” again in Chapter 39.

[公元 (119) gōngyuán A.D.]

[日元 (6) Rìyuán (Japanese) yen]

In the town square there is a statue of a unicorn on a pedestal; people throw yuan coins onto the pedestal for good luck. / At night the fairy comes to collect the yuan coins for charity.

one 一 (1) + boy 儿 (21) = pedestal 兀

The unicorn uses his horn to lift the small boy onto the pedestal (so that people can see the new “chosen one”). / [No pronunciation needed].