Number of characters per syllable

[roddy]

This is a bit of a random question, just started thinking about it as I was flicking through my dictionary.

Is there any reason why some syllables (say yi) have so many characters, while some (say kun) have so few?

Roddy

[xuechengfeng]

My guess is because the Chinese wanted make the language the hardest in the world!!!!!!!!!

[Lu]

Originally, many of those yis were pronounced a bit different, there were only a few of each. You can still see this in Cantonese, yat, yik, and the like in Mandarin all became yi. I guess kun and some other sounds changed less. I don't know why though.

[Quest]

In Cantonese:

一 yut

亿 yic

以 yee

艺 ngai

遗 wai

裔 yui

all became yi in Mandarin.