When we write a word wrong at school, our teachers call us out for writing misspellings (错别字 cuò bié zì), though in our case it refers to using the wrong radical rather than forgetting how to “spell” a word. However, there is one lucky class of people who aren’t criticized for writing a word wrong – ancient people. Oh no, their misspellings have been given a whole new name - phonetic loans (通假字 tōng jiǎ zì) - and legitimized as part of the Chinese language. According to “Gao Kao Chinese’s Nuclear Button - High

School Level Ancient Text Reading 60 Practices”, our winter homework, phonetic loans are “characters that are interchangeable due to similarities in pronunciation or other likenesses”.

What does this mean in practice? Well, in broad terms, there are four categories, the dividing line being the connection between the “loaned” word and its new reproduction. (Editor’s Note: for the following examples, the new word comes first and the original last)

Category 1: new word + radical = original word. Example: 共 + 亻= 供 gong.

Category 2: new word – radical = original word. Example: 指 - 扌= 旨 zhǐ.

Category 3: new word ± radical[s] = original word. Example: 详 - 讠 + 亻 = 佯 yáng.

However, in modern Chinese, such uses will be regarded as misspellings and are therefore prohibited. Notwithstanding, we highly respect our elders and ancestors who created our brilliant language. Misspelling or not, their works reflect the best of the best in our national cultural history. Not to mention that during their time, Chinese characters were indeed written in a different way compared to today. No matter how we joke that they “pass off” misspellings as new vocabulary, we will always be deferential to their great wisdom and foresight.