The hard characters of Esther
Esther uses 19 rare characters (outside the 3,500 common ones) and 77 that are common but beyond HSK 6, listed in the order the book first uses them, with their reading and first verse — a list to go through before reading the book aloud.
Rare: outside the 3,500 level-1 characters of the 通用规范汉字表 (2013), China’s official list of common characters. For learners: common by that list, but in no HSK 3.0 word of levels 1–6. This page prints cleanly.
| Char. | Pinyin | In this book | First in | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 筵 | yán | 17 | 1:3 | 筵席 yán xí; 筵宴 yán yàn |
| 胄 | zhòu | 1 | 1:3 | 贵胄 guì zhòu |
| 榻 | tà | 2 | 1:6 | 下榻 xià tà |
| 幔 | màn | 1 | 1:10 | 幔子 màn zi; 幔利 màn lì |
| 迦 | jiā | 1 | 1:10 | 迦南 jiā nán; 迦勒底 jiā lè dǐ |
| 冕 | miǎn | 3 | 1:11 | 冠冕 guān miǎn |
| 诏 | zhào | 1 | 1:22 | 诏书 zhào shū; 下诏 xià zhào |
| 睚 | yá | 1 | 2:5 | 睚珥 yá ěr; 睚鲁 yá lǔ |
| 珥 | ěr | 9 | 2:5 | 押尼珥 yā ní ěr; 西珥 xī ěr |
| 耶 | yē | 3 | 2:6 | 耶和华 yē hé huá; 耶稣 yē sū |
| 掳 | lǔ | 1 | 2:6 | 掳掠 lǔ lüè |
| 谕 | yù | 11 | 2:8 | 晓谕 xiǎo yù; 谕旨 yù zhǐ |
| 嫔 | pín | 1 | 2:14 | 妃嫔 fēi pín |
| 掣 | chè | 4 | 3:7 | |
| 帑 | tǎng | 1 | 3:9 | |
| 驿 | yì | 4 | 3:13 | |
| 戮 | lù | 4 | 3:13 | 杀戮 shā lù |
| 婢 | bì | 1 | 7:4 | 婢女 bì nǚ; 奴婢 nú bì |
| 裔 | yì | 3 | 9:27 | 后裔 hòu yì; 苗裔 miáo yì |
Hard for learners (common, but beyond HSK 6)（77）
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