Chan and Tai (1995). [1 of 3]

This (Big5, then UTF8-encoded) online article is modified from the published version (e.g., Mandarin tones are indicated using superscripted numbers in the tables). There are three webpages, with each containing endnotes. Bibliography is at the end of the third and final section. For the Cantonese and Taiwanese data, '[ ]' indicates a characterless word. In some cases, '[ ]' stands for a non-standard Chinese character formed by the xingsheng principle. For such cases, the component parts, radical and phonetic, are given in the paper. [ Back to publications page ]

In: Sixth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics. NACCL-6. 1995. Edited by Jose Camacho and Lina Choueiri. Los Angeles: Graduate Students in Linguistics (GSIL), USC. Volume II. Pp. 49-74.

FROM NOUNS TO VERBS:
VERBALIZATION IN CHINESE DIALECTS AND EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES *

Marjorie K.M. Chan and James H-Y. Tai
The Ohio State University

1. INTRODUCTION

The central objective of this paper is to investigate how nouns denoting concrete objects can surface as transitive verbs in East Asian languages. Our motivation for embarking on this project lies in our desire to understand better the nature of symbolization in human language. The conventional and dominant view of linguistic symbolization holds that grammar is an arbitrary, autonomous, self-contained formal system that humans use to interpret and communicate about the real world. If the conventional view is valid, we should expect that nouns denoting concrete objects can freely surface as verbs denoting actions. Modern English, with an abundance of denominal verbs (Clark and Clark 1979), appears to fulfill this expectation fairly well. In contrast, East Asian languages -- Chinese, Japanese, and Korean -- show a paucity of such cases, suggesting that the grammar of human language is neither entirely arbitrary nor entirely autonomous. Rather, it seems that grammar can be shaped and constrained by the structure of the physical world as perceived by human beings. Therefore, the relative paucity of denominal verbs in East Asian languages provides an interesting realm of inquiry to determine to what extent, and in what ways, the grammar of a language can reflect humans' conceptualization of the physical world.

In this paper, we focus on three Chinese dialects that we have familiarity with -- namely, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese -- and give a more limited discussion on Japanese and Korean for comparative purposes. To restrict the scope of the investigation, excluded are the hua-suffixation in Chinese, the suru construction in Japanese, and the hata construction in Korean. The main reason for exclusion is that these constructions are distinct from the rest of the indigenous verbal system in these languages. Typically, they are verbal expressions borrowed from, or are influenced by, foreign ones. For example, 機械化 jixiehua 'to mechanize' from 機械 jixie 'machine' in Chinese is patterned after the -ize suffixation in English; denwa o suru 'to telephone' (denwa 'telephone') in Japanese uses the suru construction, which creates verbal expressions from nouns denoting concepts borrowed from foreign sources (originally Chinese and later extended to Western civilizations); mangchi-cil hata 'to hammer' (mangchi 'a hammer') in Korean uses the hata construction to build a verbal expression not indigenous to the language. Although these constructions are excluded here, nevertheless they constitute an important part of verbalization in these languages and merit a separate, full treatment in the future.

2. CRITERIA FOR DENOMINAL VERBS IN CHINESE

For the purpose of this study, we have laid out the following set of criteria to delimit the range of denominal verbs to investigate.
1. The verbs have corresponding nouns that are homophonous (or nearly homophonous). These verbs are treated as derivable from their corresponding nouns through the process of conversion or zero derivation (cf. Lyons (1977, 523) and Sanders (1988)). This does not necessarily mean that all such verbs are, in fact, historically derived from their corresponding source nouns. We are using this derivational process as a way of relating these noun-verb pairs and as a heuristic principle to identify putative denominal verbs in Chinese. The present approach is no different from most synchronic studies of modern English morphology. [1]

2. The corresponding noun, treated here as the source noun, must refer to palpable (i.e., visible or tangible) entities (e.g., English: water/to water, bottle/to bottle).

3. The activity denoted by the denominal verb must involve the use of the object denoted by the source noun in a non-metaphorical, concrete sense. Thus, excluded are such words as: 本 ben, which means 'root (of a plant)', with the extended meaning of 'to be based upon'; 帶 dai 'girdle, belt', extended to mean 'to carry, to bring'; 跟 gen 'heel', extended to mean 'to follow'; and 油條 youtiao 'deep-fried twisted dough sticks', extended metaphorically to mean 'to be slick'.

4. The denominal verb and the source noun must have identical form, except for difference in tone, and in some rare cases, aspiration or vowel quality. Furthermore, the denominal verb must be monosyllabic. Excluded, therefore, are such verb compounds as 目送 musong 'to gaze after' involving the noun 目 mu'eye', and 齒及 chiji 'to mention' involving the noun, 齒 chi 'tooth'. While the denominal verb must be monosyllabic, the source noun may be monosyllabic and identical with the verb (e.g, 冰 bing 'to ice' / 冰 bing 'ice'), or it may be suffixed (e.g., 鋸 ju 'to saw'/ 鋸子 juzi 'a saw')), or it may serve as the head of a nominal compound (e.g., 銬 kao in 手銬 shoukao 'handcuff', 閂 shuan in 門閂 menshuan 'door latch').

3. MANDARIN CASE
3.1. Corpus
Based on the criteria in section 2 above, we have identified the following four lists of putative denominal verbs in Mandarin, with their corresponding source nouns. The data in Lists A through D are transcribed using Pinyin romanization. List A below consists of homophonous noun-verb pairs.

A. HOMOPHONOUS NOUN-VERB PAIRS

NOUN VERB

1. 磅 bang⁴ 'a scale (that weighs in avoirdupois)' (from 磅 'pound (lb.)' (Eng.)) 磅 bang⁴ 'to weigh'

2. 包 bao¹ 'a pack, package' 包 bao¹ 'to pack/wrap up'

3. 鉋 bao⁴ 'a plane' 鉋 bao⁴ 'to plane (wood)' (刨)

4. 抱 bao⁴ 'an armful (of s.t.)' [2] 抱 bao⁴ 'to embrace'

5. 鞁 bei⁴ 'a saddle' [ ]* bei⁴ 'to saddle and bridle'
(* 革 radical + 背 )

6. 錛 ben¹ 'an adze' 錛 ben¹ 'to adze'

7. 畚 ben³ 'a scoop' 畚 ben³ 'to scoop'

8. 鞭 bian¹ 'to whip' 鞭 bian¹ 'a whip'

9. 濱 bin¹ 'bank, shore' 濱 bin¹ 'to border on (sea)'

10. 冰 bing¹ 'ice' 冰 bing¹ 'to put on ice, freeze'

11. 擦 ca¹ 'a brush, eraser' 擦 ca¹ 'to erase, scrub'

12. 側 ce⁴ 'side' 側 ce⁴ 'to lean to one side'

13. 叉 cha¹ 'a fork' 叉 cha¹ 'to fork'

14. 鏟 chan³ 'a shovel' 鏟 chan³ 'to shovel' (剷)

15. 襯 chen⁴ 'a lining' 襯 chen⁴ 'to line'

16. 鋤 chu² 'a hoe' 鋤 chu² 'to hoe'

17. 串 chuan⁴ 'a string (of s.t.)' 串 chuan⁴ 'to string together'

18. 錘 chui² 'a hammer' 錘 chui² 'to hammer' (捶 )

19. 刺 ci⁴ 'a splinter, thorn' 刺 ci⁴ 'to stab, to pierce' (qi⁴)

20. 銼 cuo⁴ 'a file' 銼 cuo⁴ 'to file' (剉 )

21. 滴 di¹ 'a drip, a drop (of s.t.) 滴 di¹ 'to drip'

22. 點 dian³ 'a dot' 點 dian³ 'to dot, put a dot on'

23. 墊 dian⁴ 'a cushion' 墊 dian⁴ 'to cushion'

24. 疊 die² 'a stack/pile (of s.t.)' 疊 die²'to stack/pile'

25. 頂 ding³ 'top of the head' 頂 ding³ 'to carry on the head'

26. 毒 du² 'poison' 毒 du² 'to poison'

27. 堆 dui¹ 'a mound, a pile (of s.t.)' 堆 dui¹ 'to pile up'

28. 垛 duo⁴ 'a stack (of s.t.) 垛 duo⁴ 'to stack'

29. 粉 fen³ 'powder' 粉 fen³ 'to white-powder'

30. 糞 fen⁴ 'manure' 糞 fen⁴ 'to put manure (s.pl.)'

31. 蓋 gai⁴'a lid' 蓋 gai⁴ 'to cover with a lid'

32. 鯁 geng³ 'fishbone' 鯁 geng³ 'to choke on fishbone'

33. 鉤 gou¹ 'a hook' 鉤 gou¹ 'to hook'

34. 糊 hu² 'paste' 糊 hu² 'to paste'

35. 畫 hua⁴ 'a drawing, painting' 畫 hua⁴ 'to draw, paint'

36. 劃 hua⁴ 'a stroke' (畫 ) 劃 hua⁴ 'to form a stroke' (畫 )

37. 夾 jia¹ 'a clip' 夾 jia¹ 'to clip'

38. 架 jia⁴ 'a shelf, frame, prop' 架 jia⁴ 'to prop, to build a framework to support'

39. 醬 jiang⁴ 'a thick soy bean sauce' 醬 jiang⁴ 'to pickle w. soy bean sauce'

40. 膠 jiao¹ 'glue' 膠 jiao¹ 'to glue'

41. 窖 jiao⁴ 'cellar' 窖 jiao⁴ 'to store in a cellar'

42. 卷 juan³ 'a roll (of s.t.)' 捲 juan³ 'to roll up'

43. 鋸 ju⁴ 'a saw' 鋸 ju⁴ 'to saw'

44. 炕 kang⁴ 'a heatable brick bed' 炕 kang⁴ 'to bake or dry on a kang'

45. 銬 kao⁴ 'handcuffs' 銬 kao⁴ 'to handcuff'

46. 釦 kou⁴ 'a button' 扣 kou⁴ 'to button'

47. 胯 kua⁴ 'groin' 跨 kua⁴ 'to stride, bestride'

48. 綑 kun³ 'a bundle (of s.t.)' 捆 kun³ 'to bundle'

49. 犁 li² 'a plow' 犁 li² 'to plow'

50. 礱 long² 'a rice huller' 礱 long² 'to hull rice'

51. 面 mian⁴ 'face' 面 mian⁴ 'to face'

52. 奶 nai³ 'breast' 奶 nai³ 'to breast-feed'

53. 攮 nang³ 'a dagger' 攮 nang³ 'to stab'

54. 碾 nian³ 'a roller (for grains)' 碾 nian³ 'to grind or husk w. a roller'

55. 尿 niao⁴ 'urine' 尿 niao⁴ 'to urinate'

56. 鑷 nie⁴ 'tweezers' 鑷 nie⁴ 'to pick up s.t. w. tweezers'

57. 耙 pa² 'a rake, harrow' 耙 pa² 'to rake, harrow'

58. 拍 pai¹ 'a bat, racket' 拍 pai¹ 'to bounce (ball)'

59. 片 pian⁴ 'a slice (of s.t.)' 片 pian⁴ 'to slice'

60. 漆 qi¹ 'paint' 漆 qi¹ 'to paint'

61. 鉗 qian² 'pliers' 鉗 qian²'to grip with pliers'

62. 圈 quan¹ 'a circle' 圈 quan¹ 'to encircle, to mark w. a circle'

63. 篩 shai¹ 'a sieve, sifter' 篩 shai¹ 'to sieve, sift'

64. 梳 shu¹ 'a comb' 梳 shu¹ 'to comb'

65. 束 shu⁴ 'a bundle (of s.t.)' 束 shu⁴'to bundle'

66. 刷 shua¹ 'a brush' 刷 shua¹ 'to brush'

67. 閂 shuan¹ 'a bar (for door, gate)' 閂 shuan¹ 'to bar/bolt (door)'

68. 鎖 suo³ 'a lock' 鎖 suo³ 'to lock'

69. 套 tao⁴ 'a case, cover' 套 tao⁴ 'to put into a case'

70. 挑 tiao¹ 'loads carried on a shoulder pole' 挑 tiao¹ 'to carry on the shoulder w. a pole'

71. 網 wang³ 'a net' 網 wang³ 'to net'

72. 袖 xiu⁴ 'sleeve' 袖 xiu⁴ 'to tuck hands into sleeves'

73. 楦 xuan⁴ 'shoe last' 楦 xuan⁴ 'to last shoes'

74. 印 yin⁴ 'a seal' 印 yin⁴ 'to stamp with a seal'

75. 油 you² 'oil' 油 you² 'to paint w. oil paint'

76. 紮 za¹ 'a bundle (of s.t.)' 扎 za¹ 'to bind (into a bundle)'

77. 鑿 zao² 'a chisel' 鑿 zao² 'to chisel'

78. 閘 zha² 'floodgate' 閘 zha² 'to dam up water'

79. 鍘 zha² 'hay cutter' 鍘 zha² 'to cut with hay cutter'

80. 罩 zhao⁴ 'a cover, shade' 罩 zhao⁴ 'to cover, shade'

81. 摺 zhe² 'a fold' 摺 zhe² 'to fold'

82. 指 zhi³ 'finger' 指 zhi³ 'to point with finger'

83. 皺 zhou⁴ 'wrinkle' 皺 zhou⁴ 'to wrinkle'

84. 錐 zhui¹ 'an awl' 錐 zhui¹ 'to pierce'

85. 座 zuo⁴ 'a seat' (坐) 坐 zuo⁴ 'to sit' [3]

List B consists of noun-verb pairs in which the verb is consistently in Tone 4.

B. NOUN-VERB PAIRS WITH VERBS IN TONE 4

NOUN VERB

1. 釘 ding¹ 'a nail' 釘 ding⁴ 'to nail'

2. 鋼 gang¹ 'steel' 鋼 gang⁴ 'to reinforce with steel'

3. 膏 gao¹ 'grease, ointment' 膏 gao⁴ 'to grease, lubricate'

4. 冠 guan¹ 'a cap' 冠 guan⁴ 'to put on a cap'

5. 空 kong¹ 'empty space' 空 kong⁴ 'to empty a space'

6. 間 jian¹ 'space between' 間 jian⁴ 'to create space bet.'

7. 泥 ni² 'mud' 泥 ni⁴ 'to cover with mud/plaster'

8. 瓦 we³ 'tile' 瓦 wa⁴ 'to tile'

9. 中 zhong¹ 'center' 中 zhong⁴ 'to hit the target'

10. 種 zhong³ 'a seed' 種 zhong⁴ 'to plant, grow'

List C consists of noun-verb pairs in which the nouns are consistently in Tone 4.
C. NOUN-VERB PAIRS WITH NOUNS IN TONE 4

NOUN VERB
1. 把 ba⁴ 'a handle' 把 ba³ 'to hold'

2. 背 bei⁴'back' 背 bei¹ 'to carry on back' (揹 )

3. 稱 cheng⁴ 'a scale' (秤 ) 稱 cheng¹ 'to weigh'

4. 橕 cheng⁴ 'a prop' 撐 cheng¹ 'to prop'

5. 擔 dan⁴ 'a carrying pole and loads on it' 擔 dan¹ 'to carry on a shoulder pole'

6. 份 fen⁴ 'a portion' 分 fen¹ 'to divide'

7. 縫 feng⁴ 'a seam' 縫 feng² 'to sew'

8. 圈 juan⁴ 'a pen, sty' 圈 juan¹ 'to shut in a pen'

9. 磨 mo⁴'a millstone' 磨 mo² 'to grind'

10. 掃 sao⁴'a broom, duster' 掃 sao³ 'to sweep, to dust'

11. 扇 shan⁴'a fan' 搧 shan¹ 'to fan'

12. 彈 dan⁴'a pellet, bullet' 彈 tan² 'to shoot'

13. 馱 duo⁴'a load carried by a pack animal' 馱 tuo² 'to carry on the back of a pack animal)'

14. 鑽 zuan⁴ 'a drill' 鑽 zuan¹ 'to drill'

There is a well-known historical principle of using the Qusheng (去聲 'departing tone'), to derive nouns from verbs, or verbs from nouns, with the derived form bearing the Qusheng category. Since Tone 4 on a large number of modern Mandarin words is a reflex of the historical Qusheng category, one might be tempted to treat the nouns in List C as having been derived from their corresponding verbs. However, this convention of derivation by tone change does not apply to the modern Chinese dialects, including Mandarin. The majority, if not all, of the pairs in Lists B and C are vestiges of this historical principle, with its origin shrouded in the remote past. Since inclusion of List C as denominal verbs does not negatively affect the overall picture and conclusions of the present study, we have opted to treat the verbs in List C as derived from nouns.

The final list for Mandarin is D, consisting of miscellaneous near-homophonous noun-verb pairs that do not fit under any of the above lists. The members of these pairs differ in aspiration of initial, tone, and/or vowel quality.

D. NEAR HOMOPHONOUS NOUN-VERB PAIRS

NOUN VERB

1. 倉 cang¹ 'storage' 藏 cang² 'to put into storage'

2. 旁 pang² 'side' 傍 bang² 'to be by the side of'

3. 舌 she² 'tongue' 舐 shi⁴ 'to lick'

4. 盬 yan² 'salt' 醃 yan¹ 'to pickle w. salt' (腌 ))

5. 爪 zhua³ 'claw' 抓 zhua¹ 'to scratch or grab w. claws'

6. 褶 zhe³ 'a pleat' 摺 zhe² 'to pleat, fold'

3.2. Categories of Denominal Verbs
In their study of English denominal verbs, Clark and Clark (hereafter CC) sorted them into nine different semantic categories, the ninth simply a miscellaneous one:

(1) Clark and Clark's (1977) Nine Categories

1. LOCATUM VERBS. The parent nouns are in the object case in clauses that describe the location of one thing with respect to another. (E.g., paint the ceiling, tile the floor, powder her nose, man the ship, cushion the chair, sign the check, skin the rabbit, salt the food, pit the cherries, fence the yard.)

2. LOCATION VERBS. The parent nouns are in the locative case. (E.g., kennel the dog, ground the planes, string the beads, pot the begonias, photograph the children, shell the peas.)

3. DURATION VERBS. The parent noun must denote a stretch of time and take a preposition like 'for'. (E.g., summer in France, vacation in Mexico, honeymoon in Hawaii.)

4. AGENT VERBS. The parent nouns are in the agentive case. (E.g., butcher the cow, guard the jewels, tutor the boys, referee the game, parent the children, wife/husband someone, slave over the work.)

5. EXPERIENCER VERBS (rare: only three cases given in CC). 'Witness the accident' is classified that way on the premise that witnesses do not watch accidents, but see them. (E.g., witness the accident, boycott the store (do the act one would do to Captain Boycott), badger the officials (do the act a dog would do to a badger).)

6. GOAL VERBS. The parent nouns denote roles conferred on people by external forces, sometimes against their will (in the case of human roles). (E.g., fool the man, orphan the children, pile the money, knot the string, loop the rope, cube the potatoes, powder the aspirin, copy the paper, cream the butter.)

7. SOURCE VERBS (only three examples in CC). In an example such as 'piece the quilt together', the verb is classified as a source verb on the basis of the rather awkward paraphrase 'do something to cause it to come about that [the quilt is together out of pieces], i.e., put the quilt together from pieces'. (E.g., piece the quilt, word the sentence, letter the sign.)

8. INSTRUMENT VERBS (the commonest, according to CC). The parent nouns denote instruments. (E.g., bicycle into town, ship (s.t. somewhere), bus, truck, nail, pin, paste, lock, buckle, button, mop the floor, hammer the nail into the board, bat the ball, knife the man, spear the fish, bomb the village, net the fish, rope off the area, dam the river, trail the deer, fork the pickle, market the goods, eye the guard-dog, elbow someone aside, plane the wood smooth, shovel the dirt, brake the car, pump the water, dye the cloth.)

9. MISCELLANEOUS VERBS. Meals (e.g., lunch, breakfast, snack); crops (e.g., blackberry in the woods, timber off the hills); parts (e.g., rear-end the van); elements (e.g., rain, snow); and other.

Based on CC's categories, the Mandarin Chinese corpus falls under the following four categories of denominal verbs, together with five illustrative examples for each category:

(2) Categories in Mandarin

1. Locatum verbs

e.g. 漆 qi¹ 'to paint', 糞 fen⁴ 'to put manure (s.pl.)',

膏 gao⁴ 'to grease', 點 dian³ 'to put a dot (s.pl.)',

瓦 wa⁴ 'to tile'

2. Location verbs

e.g. 窖 jiao⁴ 'to store in a cellar', 套 tao⁴ 'to put into a case',

炕 kang⁴ 'to bake on a kang', 頂 ding³ 'to carry on the head',

袖 xiu⁴ 'to tuck hands into sleeves'

3. Goal verbs

e.g. 串 chuan¹ 'to string', 堆 dui¹ 'to pile',

片 pian⁴ 'to slice', 畫 hua⁴ 'to draw a picture',

捆 kun³ 'to bundle'

4. Instrument verbs

e.g. 鋤 chu² 'to hoe', 鞭 bian¹ 'to whip',

犁 li² 'to plow', 篩 shai¹ 'to sieve, sift',

梳 shu¹ 'to comb'

Among these categories, least common are locatum and location verbs, next goal verbs, with the commonest being instrument verbs in modern Mandarin.

ENDNOTES (Numbers * through 3)
* We thank Audrey Li, the organizer of NACCL6 for inviting us to present our joint paper, which is based on research and data-collection over the past few years. We have benefited from comments and questions from the audience, including David Branner, James Huang, Nam-kil Kim, Hua Lin, Jerry Norman, and Tang Ting-chi. We have also benefited from discussing the topic with our graduate students at the Ohio State University, and with Hyunoo Lee on the Korean data. Needless to say, we remain solely responsible for any infelicities herein. [BACK]

1. It is often extremely difficult in Chinese, as well as in English, to establish the direction of derivation for noun-verb pairs, especially in cases where historical documents show both members existing at roughly the same time. Although Clark and Clark (1979, 768) claim that the English denominal verbs in their article are derived from nouns historically, Sanders (1988, 158) notes critically that not all authors agree with them with respect to the direction of derivation. For example, whereas they (p.776) consider the verb 'shampoo' to be derived from the corresponding noun, Marchand (1969, 303) treats the noun as having been derived from the corresponding verb. [BACK]

2. On the basis of the 'hand' radical, one might want to argue that the source form is the verb and the derived one the noun, as the vast majority of characters containing this radical denote actions involving the hand. Historically, this seems to be the case. However, for the purpose of this synchronic study, we are opting to avoid mixing orthography with the spoken language. Besides, the evolution of the writing system, including the addition of radical components to original characters, is a very complex one. As a result, one can be easily misled into making an over-generalization, such as "All words written in characters with the 'hand' radical originate as verbs". This generalization is clearly not true with respect to the character, 指 zhi (item 82), for example, which historically originated as a noun, 'finger', as indicated in the Shuowen and other early documents. In this study, we have included homophonous noun-verb pairs containing the 'hand' radical. By the same token, we have included homophonous noun-verb pairs containing the 'knife' radical, as in 刷 shua 'brush/to brush' (item 66).) [BACK]

3. Historically, this pair was not in fact homophonous; 座 zuo was in the Qusheng category and 坐 zuo in Shangsheng. [BACK]

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		NOUN		VERB
1.	磅	bang⁴ 'a scale (that weighs in avoirdupois)' (from 磅 'pound (lb.)' (Eng.))	磅	bang⁴ 'to weigh'
2.	包	bao¹ 'a pack, package'	包	bao¹ 'to pack/wrap up'
3.	鉋	bao⁴ 'a plane'	鉋	bao⁴ 'to plane (wood)' (刨)
4.	抱	bao⁴ 'an armful (of s.t.)' [2]	抱	bao⁴ 'to embrace'
5.	鞁	bei⁴ 'a saddle'	[ ]*	bei⁴ 'to saddle and bridle' (* 革 radical + 背 )
6.	錛	ben¹ 'an adze'	錛	ben¹ 'to adze'
7.	畚	ben³ 'a scoop'	畚	ben³ 'to scoop'
8.	鞭	bian¹ 'to whip'	鞭	bian¹ 'a whip'
9.	濱	bin¹ 'bank, shore'	濱	bin¹ 'to border on (sea)'
10.	冰	bing¹ 'ice'	冰	bing¹ 'to put on ice, freeze'
11.	擦	ca¹ 'a brush, eraser'	擦	ca¹ 'to erase, scrub'
12.	側	ce⁴ 'side'	側	ce⁴ 'to lean to one side'
13.	叉	cha¹ 'a fork'	叉	cha¹ 'to fork'
14.	鏟	chan³ 'a shovel'	鏟	chan³ 'to shovel' (剷)
15.	襯	chen⁴ 'a lining'	襯	chen⁴ 'to line'
16.	鋤	chu² 'a hoe'	鋤	chu² 'to hoe'
17.	串	chuan⁴ 'a string (of s.t.)'	串	chuan⁴ 'to string together'
18.	錘	chui² 'a hammer'	錘	chui² 'to hammer' (捶 )
19.	刺	ci⁴ 'a splinter, thorn'	刺	ci⁴ 'to stab, to pierce' (qi⁴)
20.	銼	cuo⁴ 'a file'	銼	cuo⁴ 'to file' (剉 )
21.	滴	di¹ 'a drip, a drop (of s.t.)	滴	di¹ 'to drip'
22.	點	dian³ 'a dot'	點	dian³ 'to dot, put a dot on'
23.	墊	dian⁴ 'a cushion'	墊	dian⁴ 'to cushion'
24.	疊	die² 'a stack/pile (of s.t.)'	疊	die²'to stack/pile'
25.	頂	ding³ 'top of the head'	頂	ding³ 'to carry on the head'
26.	毒	du² 'poison'	毒	du² 'to poison'
27.	堆	dui¹ 'a mound, a pile (of s.t.)'	堆	dui¹ 'to pile up'
28.	垛	duo⁴ 'a stack (of s.t.)	垛	duo⁴ 'to stack'
29.	粉	fen³ 'powder'	粉	fen³ 'to white-powder'
30.	糞	fen⁴ 'manure'	糞	fen⁴ 'to put manure (s.pl.)'
31.	蓋	gai⁴'a lid'	蓋	gai⁴ 'to cover with a lid'
32.	鯁	geng³ 'fishbone'	鯁	geng³ 'to choke on fishbone'
33.	鉤	gou¹ 'a hook'	鉤	gou¹ 'to hook'
34.	糊	hu² 'paste'	糊	hu² 'to paste'
35.	畫	hua⁴ 'a drawing, painting'	畫	hua⁴ 'to draw, paint'
36.	劃	hua⁴ 'a stroke' (畫 )	劃	hua⁴ 'to form a stroke' (畫 )
37.	夾	jia¹ 'a clip'	夾	jia¹ 'to clip'
38.	架	jia⁴ 'a shelf, frame, prop'	架	jia⁴ 'to prop, to build a framework to support'
39.	醬	jiang⁴ 'a thick soy bean sauce'	醬	jiang⁴ 'to pickle w. soy bean sauce'
40.	膠	jiao¹ 'glue'	膠	jiao¹ 'to glue'
41.	窖	jiao⁴ 'cellar'	窖	jiao⁴ 'to store in a cellar'
42.	卷	juan³ 'a roll (of s.t.)'	捲	juan³ 'to roll up'
43.	鋸	ju⁴ 'a saw'	鋸	ju⁴ 'to saw'
44.	炕	kang⁴ 'a heatable brick bed'	炕	kang⁴ 'to bake or dry on a kang'
45.	銬	kao⁴ 'handcuffs'	銬	kao⁴ 'to handcuff'
46.	釦	kou⁴ 'a button'	扣	kou⁴ 'to button'
47.	胯	kua⁴ 'groin'	跨	kua⁴ 'to stride, bestride'
48.	綑	kun³ 'a bundle (of s.t.)'	捆	kun³ 'to bundle'
49.	犁	li² 'a plow'	犁	li² 'to plow'
50.	礱	long² 'a rice huller'	礱	long² 'to hull rice'
51.	面	mian⁴ 'face'	面	mian⁴ 'to face'
52.	奶	nai³ 'breast'	奶	nai³ 'to breast-feed'
53.	攮	nang³ 'a dagger'	攮	nang³ 'to stab'
54.	碾	nian³ 'a roller (for grains)'	碾	nian³ 'to grind or husk w. a roller'
55.	尿	niao⁴ 'urine'	尿	niao⁴ 'to urinate'
56.	鑷	nie⁴ 'tweezers'	鑷	nie⁴ 'to pick up s.t. w. tweezers'
57.	耙	pa² 'a rake, harrow'	耙	pa² 'to rake, harrow'
58.	拍	pai¹ 'a bat, racket'	拍	pai¹ 'to bounce (ball)'
59.	片	pian⁴ 'a slice (of s.t.)'	片	pian⁴ 'to slice'
60.	漆	qi¹ 'paint'	漆	qi¹ 'to paint'
61.	鉗	qian² 'pliers'	鉗	qian²'to grip with pliers'
62.	圈	quan¹ 'a circle'	圈	quan¹ 'to encircle, to mark w. a circle'
63.	篩	shai¹ 'a sieve, sifter'	篩	shai¹ 'to sieve, sift'
64.	梳	shu¹ 'a comb'	梳	shu¹ 'to comb'
65.	束	shu⁴ 'a bundle (of s.t.)'	束	shu⁴'to bundle'
66.	刷	shua¹ 'a brush'	刷	shua¹ 'to brush'
67.	閂	shuan¹ 'a bar (for door, gate)'	閂	shuan¹ 'to bar/bolt (door)'
68.	鎖	suo³ 'a lock'	鎖	suo³ 'to lock'
69.	套	tao⁴ 'a case, cover'	套	tao⁴ 'to put into a case'
70.	挑	tiao¹ 'loads carried on a shoulder pole'	挑	tiao¹ 'to carry on the shoulder w. a pole'
71.	網	wang³ 'a net'	網	wang³ 'to net'
72.	袖	xiu⁴ 'sleeve'	袖	xiu⁴ 'to tuck hands into sleeves'
73.	楦	xuan⁴ 'shoe last'	楦	xuan⁴ 'to last shoes'
74.	印	yin⁴ 'a seal'	印	yin⁴ 'to stamp with a seal'
75.	油	you² 'oil'	油	you² 'to paint w. oil paint'
76.	紮	za¹ 'a bundle (of s.t.)'	扎	za¹ 'to bind (into a bundle)'
77.	鑿	zao² 'a chisel'	鑿	zao² 'to chisel'
78.	閘	zha² 'floodgate'	閘	zha² 'to dam up water'
79.	鍘	zha² 'hay cutter'	鍘	zha² 'to cut with hay cutter'
80.	罩	zhao⁴ 'a cover, shade'	罩	zhao⁴ 'to cover, shade'
81.	摺	zhe² 'a fold'	摺	zhe² 'to fold'
82.	指	zhi³ 'finger'	指	zhi³ 'to point with finger'
83.	皺	zhou⁴ 'wrinkle'	皺	zhou⁴ 'to wrinkle'
84.	錐	zhui¹ 'an awl'	錐	zhui¹ 'to pierce'
85.	座	zuo⁴ 'a seat' (坐)	坐	zuo⁴ 'to sit' [3]

		NOUN		VERB
1.	釘	ding¹ 'a nail'	釘	ding⁴ 'to nail'
2.	鋼	gang¹ 'steel'	鋼	gang⁴ 'to reinforce with steel'
3.	膏	gao¹ 'grease, ointment'	膏	gao⁴ 'to grease, lubricate'
4.	冠	guan¹ 'a cap'	冠	guan⁴ 'to put on a cap'
5.	空	kong¹ 'empty space'	空	kong⁴ 'to empty a space'
6.	間	jian¹ 'space between'	間	jian⁴ 'to create space bet.'
7.	泥	ni² 'mud'	泥	ni⁴ 'to cover with mud/plaster'
8.	瓦	we³ 'tile'	瓦	wa⁴ 'to tile'
9.	中	zhong¹ 'center'	中	zhong⁴ 'to hit the target'
10.	種	zhong³ 'a seed'	種	zhong⁴ 'to plant, grow'

		NOUN		VERB
1.	把	ba⁴ 'a handle'	把	ba³ 'to hold'
2.	背	bei⁴'back'	背	bei¹ 'to carry on back' (揹 )
3.	稱	cheng⁴ 'a scale' (秤 )	稱	cheng¹ 'to weigh'
4.	橕	cheng⁴ 'a prop'	撐	cheng¹ 'to prop'
5.	擔	dan⁴ 'a carrying pole and loads on it'	擔	dan¹ 'to carry on a shoulder pole'
6.	份	fen⁴ 'a portion'	分	fen¹ 'to divide'
7.	縫	feng⁴ 'a seam'	縫	feng² 'to sew'
8.	圈	juan⁴ 'a pen, sty'	圈	juan¹ 'to shut in a pen'
9.	磨	mo⁴'a millstone'	磨	mo² 'to grind'
10.	掃	sao⁴'a broom, duster'	掃	sao³ 'to sweep, to dust'
11.	扇	shan⁴'a fan'	搧	shan¹ 'to fan'
12.	彈	dan⁴'a pellet, bullet'	彈	tan² 'to shoot'
13.	馱	duo⁴'a load carried by a pack animal'	馱	tuo² 'to carry on the back of a pack animal)'
14.	鑽	zuan⁴ 'a drill'	鑽	zuan¹ 'to drill'

		NOUN		VERB
1.	倉	cang¹ 'storage'	藏	cang² 'to put into storage'
2.	旁	pang² 'side'	傍	bang² 'to be by the side of'
3.	舌	she² 'tongue'	舐	shi⁴ 'to lick'
4.	盬	yan² 'salt'	醃	yan¹ 'to pickle w. salt' (腌 ))
5.	爪	zhua³ 'claw'	抓	zhua¹ 'to scratch or grab w. claws'
6.	褶	zhe³ 'a pleat'	摺	zhe² 'to pleat, fold'

1.	Locatum verbs
	e.g.	漆	qi¹ 'to paint',	糞	fen⁴ 'to put manure (s.pl.)',
		膏	gao⁴ 'to grease',	點	dian³ 'to put a dot (s.pl.)',
		瓦	wa⁴ 'to tile'

2.	Location verbs
	e.g.	窖	jiao⁴ 'to store in a cellar',	套	tao⁴ 'to put into a case',
		炕	kang⁴ 'to bake on a kang',	頂	ding³ 'to carry on the head',
		袖	xiu⁴ 'to tuck hands into sleeves'

3.	Goal verbs
	e.g.	串	chuan¹ 'to string',	堆	dui¹ 'to pile',
		片	pian⁴ 'to slice',	畫	hua⁴ 'to draw a picture',
		捆	kun³ 'to bundle'

4.	Instrument verbs
	e.g.	鋤	chu² 'to hoe',	鞭	bian¹ 'to whip',
		犁	li² 'to plow',	篩	shai¹ 'to sieve, sift',
		梳	shu¹ 'to comb'