Do you know what tally marks are?
They are used when counting with a pencil and paper.
In western societies, a common way to note tally marks is like this:
You mark down a single stroke, each time you’re counting an item. After you have 4 strokes down, on your 5th stroke you cross off the first 4. That way it’s easy to count a group of 5.
In Chinese they use the same concept, but instead of vertical strokes, they try to build the character 正 as follows:
As you can see, each complete 正 character uses 5 strokes. So a series of 正 would each represent 5, just like the English ones above.
So where else can you see 正 tallies?
When you are ordering items from a menu, you can use 正 to indicate the number of dishes you want to order. Start with 一 for one, and work your way up.
So the next time you see the above strokes, you’ll know what its purpose is!
Do the 5 tally marks actually have a meaning? Does it actually create a chinese character of sorts?
Yes, it creates the character 正 which has 5 strokes to it.
My understanding is that it is the character for “right” or “correct”
You got it! 正 refers to the right form.