h
modifications and improvements, and others, known as phonetic
dictionaries, arranged under the finals according to the Tones, we
come to the great standard lexicon produced under the auspices, and
now bearing the name of the emperor K'ang Hsi, A.D. 1662-1723.

Phonetic dictionaries.

But before proceeding, a rough attempt may be made to exhibit in
English terms the principle of the phonetic as compared with the
radical dictionary described above. In the spoken language there would
occur the word _light_, the opposite of dark, and this would be
expressed in writing by a certain symbol. Then, when it became
necessary to write down _light_, the opposite of heavy, the result
would be precisely what we see in English. But as written words
increased, always with a limited number of vocables (see _Language_),
this system was found to be impracticable, and Radicals were inserted
as a means of distinguishing one kind of _light_ from another, but
without altering the original sound. Now, in the phonetic dictionary
the words are no longer arranged in such groups as

Sun-light
Sun-beam
Sun-stroke
Sun-god, &c.

according to the Radicals, but in such groups as

Sun-light
Moon-light
Foot-light
Gas-light, &c.

according to the phonetics, all the above four being pronounced simply
_light_, without reference to the radical portion which guides towards
the limited sense of the term. So, in a phonetic dictionary, we should
have such a group as

Brass-bound
Morocco-bound
Half-bound
Spell-bound
Homeward-bound
Wind-bound

and so on, all the above six being pronounced simply _bound_. To
return to "K'ang Hsi," as the lexicon in question is familiarly
styled, the total number of characters given therein amounts to over
forty-four thousand, grouped no longer under the five hundred and
forty Radicals of Hsue Shen, but under the much more manageable number
of two hundred and fourteen, as already used in earlier dictionaries.
Further, as the groups of characters would now be more than four times
as large as in the _Shuo Wen_, they were subdivided under each Radical
according to the number of strokes in the other, or phonetic part of
the character. Thus, adopting letters as strokes, for the purpose of
illustration, we should have "dog-nap" in the group of Radical "dog"
and three strokes, while "dog-days"