This 'feeling' character hides a warrior's weapon

Originally a 'ghostly person' beside a heart, 怪 e

This 'urgent' character hides a leaping heart — i

Its 'white' component (白) is a phonetic ghost —

This ‘forget’ character doesn’t show a blank br

Originally an arrow hitting its mark — now the mo

Its ancient pictograph showed a foot stepping *bac

Born from the taut string of an ancient bow, 张 ev

Its top half 冒 means 'to emerge' — so 帽 literal

Born as a knotted silk sash in ancient rituals, 带

Originally a bronze-age diagram of a walled market

This 3-stroke character began as a coiled serpent

This 'difference' character began as a picture of

This 3-stroke character is a near-perfect 3,000-ye

Though it looks like 'corpse' (尸) resting on 'onc

This 'dwelling' character morphed into a linguisti

Originally a roof sheltering a person, 容 evolved

Ancient Chinese saw harm as a snake slithering und

Originally a woman resting safely under a roof —

Born as 'youngest son' in oracle bone script, it m

This character literally means 'marriage at dusk'

This 'aunt' character hides ancient diplomacy in i

Its 8 strokes hide a Bronze Age pose of astonishme

This 'first dynasty' character began as a dancing

Though it means 'bad', 坏 originally pictured crum

Looks like 'earth' + 'completion' — and it is: th

This character began as a pictograph of a walled e

Originally a tiger-in-a-box symbolizing territoria