These are characters which are based off of the actual image of an object. Naturally these were the first, most early developed symbols to describe common everyday things. e.g. 月 木 日 .
Ideograms 指事字
These are diagrams of concepts that either do not have form or are difficult to describe by a simple picture. The most common example of this are the characters 上 and 下.
Ideogrammic compounds 會意字
This type of character is essentially the combination of two or more pictograms and/or ideograms. The classic example is when you combine two trees (木) you get a forest (林).
What are the different types of hanja?
Pictograms 象形字
These are characters which are based off of the actual image of an object. Naturally these were the first, most early developed symbols to describe common everyday things. e.g. 月 木 日 .
Ideograms 指事字
These are diagrams of concepts that either do not have form or are difficult to describe by a simple picture. The most common example of this are the characters 上 and 下.
Ideogrammic compounds 會意字
This type of character is essentially the combination of two or more pictograms and/or ideograms. The classic example is when you combine two trees (木) you get a forest (林).