Browse Characters — Learn Chinese Through Stories

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

zhí

This 'threshold' character hides in plain sight —

Looks like 'emperor' + 'tree', but it’s actually

zuò

This 'oak' character hides a secret: its phonetic

tuò

This 9-stroke character isn’t just ‘wood + tap’

yòu

This 'pomelo' character hides a pun: its pronuncia

xiá

This 'cage' isn't metal or wire — it's a heavy ti

zhè

A 9-stroke 'thorn-tree' character whose right side

This ‘seven’ isn’t for counting apples — it’s

gān

This character literally fuses 'tree' and 'sweet'

bǎi

Though it looks like 'white tree,' 柏 is actually

This rare botanical character hides a secret: its

pán

This ‘plate’ isn’t ceramic or plastic — it’s

This 'stop' character isn’t philosophical — it’

bǐng

This 'handle' character hides a royal secret: in a

líng

A botanical ghost character: visually built for tr

tuó

Though it looks like 'it' with wood attached, 柁 i

This 'oar' character hides a pulling motion in its

This rare tree-character hides a 2,200-year-old bo

gōu

This ‘bent’ character hides in plain sight — no

jiā

This 9-stroke character looks like 'wood + add'—a

xiāo

A 'wood' radical cradling a 'mouth' — not for spe

zhǐ

This 'hedge thorn' character looks like a tree wit

This 'male hemp' character hides a 3,000-year-old

píng

This ‘chess board’ character hides a secret: its

yùn

A phono-semantic ghost — 枟 looks like 'wood + cl

è

This rare character hides a 3,000-year-old 'X-ray'

ruì

This unassuming 8-stroke character hides China’s

dǒu

This unassuming 8-stroke character is the silent,