Thanks for sharing this contrarian perspective that most Chinese characters lack a genuine semantic component.
I don't know if the data supports this or not, but it's an interesting thought.
Regarding the example of 正, Wikipedia suggests the foot radical is actually 足/⻊(radical 157) [0].
It suggests 正 is not a radical but rather derives from radical 77, "stop (止)."
When you add the top line to form 正, the image meaning becomes "stop in the middle," which seems reasonably aligned with the meaning of "right/justice/normal."
Not sure who's right: Wikipedia or you, so please clarify if Wikipedia is wrong. Thanks!
I don't know if the data supports this or not, but it's an interesting thought.
Regarding the example of 正, Wikipedia suggests the foot radical is actually 足/⻊(radical 157) [0].
It suggests 正 is not a radical but rather derives from radical 77, "stop (止)."
When you add the top line to form 正, the image meaning becomes "stop in the middle," which seems reasonably aligned with the meaning of "right/justice/normal."
Not sure who's right: Wikipedia or you, so please clarify if Wikipedia is wrong. Thanks!
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_radical