Gregory's Server
@nina_kali_nina
To some degree, yes. But a lot of characters (in japanese; not in Chinese I believe) carry multiple meanings, which sometimes have little connection to the original design. 方 means direction and alternative (feels related); but also person.
And the characters are usually used in combination to form words and those frequently have no connection to the meaning. A character is there often just for the pronunciation, nothing else.
@nina_kali_nina But still, yes, when I run into a word I don't know, the combination of context and characters can sometimes be enough for me to figure out what it means.
I've been led to believe Chinese is clearer in this respect, as they haven't overloaded their characters with meanings and readings to the same degree as japanese.