The hard characters of Zephaniah
Zephaniah uses 12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 耶 | yē | 39 | 1:1 | 耶和华 yē hé huá; 耶稣 yē sū |
| 迦 | jiā | 3 | 1:11 | 迦南 jiā nán; 迦勒底 jiā lè dǐ |
| 滓 | zǐ | 1 | 1:12 | 渣滓 zhā zǐ |
| 掳 | lǔ | 4 | 2:7 | 掳掠 lǔ lüè |
| 扪 | mén | 2 | 2:8 | 亚扪 yà mén; 扪心自问 mén xīn zì wèn |
| 鹈 | tí | 1 | 2:14 | 鹈鹕 tí hú |
| 鹕 | hú | 1 | 2:14 | 鹈鹕 tí hú |
| 嗤 | chī | 1 | 2:15 | 嗤笑 chī xiào; 嗤之以鼻 chī zhī yǐ bí |
| 咆 | páo | 1 | 3:3 | 咆哮 páo xiào |
| 亵 | xiè | 1 | 3:4 | 亵渎 xiè dú; 亵慢 xiè màn |
| 渎 | dú | 1 | 3:4 | 亵渎 xiè dú |
| 矜 | jīn | 1 | 3:11 |
Hard for learners (common, but beyond HSK 6)（77）
玄xuán玛mǎ雅yǎ畜chù绊bàn撒sā祭jì誓shì勒lè堪kān惩chéng邦bāng槛kǎn诡guǐ诈zhà哀āi巡xún渣zhā澄chéng祸huò掠lüè荒huāng栽zāi乃nǎi忿fèn凄qī冥míng呐nà瞎xiā尘chén抛pāo粪fèn羞xiū耻chǐ趁chèn糠kāng卑bēi萨sà伦lún牧mù眷juàn谤bàng辱rǔ夸kuā蛾é坑kēng畏wèi尼ní旱hàn旷kuàng兽shòu鸣míng柏bǎi惟wéi悖bèi逆nì秽huì诲huì倚yǐ哮xiào狮shī豺chái狼láng邑yì拟nǐ恼nǎo祈qí祷dǎo愧kuì孽niè谎huǎng锡xī刑xíng仇chóu惧jù拯zhěng瘸qué