Phonetics 声旁.

Some 85% of the characters in common use today came about by combing a radical - or meaning element - wth an existing sound element that sounded the same or similar to the word the new character was for, though it is important to note that sound elements are unreliable - they do not always sound the same - and carry no tone information.

The following table contains 18 characters with the same phonetic element. notice that the pronunciation is no longer exactly the same - some are qing and some are jing - and that the tones vary. The other part of the character is the radical (indicated in parentheses underneath). Note that these are all traditional characters.

凊 qing4 cold, cool                 情 qing2 sentiment           清 qing1 clear up, settle
(ice)                                           (heart)                                  (water)

請 qing3 request                     晴 qing2 fine, clear            鯖 qing1 mackerel

(language)                               (sun)                                     (fish)

蜻 qing1 dragonfly                  圊 qing1 toilet                     鼱 jing1 shrew

(insect)                                     (encirclement)                    (rat)

精 jing1 refined                        靜 jing4 still, quiet              睛 jing1 eyeball

(rice)                                         (green)                                  (eye)

菁 jing1 lush, luxuriant           靖 jing4 pacify                     婧 jing4 modest,supple

(grass)                                      (stand)                                  (woman)

箐 jing1 flower of leek           靚 jing4 make up                鶄 jing1 water bird

(bamboo)                                (green)                                  (bird)