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.

zhǎ

This 'span' character isn’t drawn from a ruler —

Its eight strokes hide a feather-brush — born fro

mǐn

This 8-stroke character hides a Tang-dynasty secre

chēn

This northern Chinese 'stretch-verb' looks like a

chì

This character began as a bronze-age image of a ha

This 'pull' character hides a midnight heist in it

pēng

Looks like a hand smashing flat ground — born as

bǐng

This 'handle' doesn’t grip mugs—it grips power:

póu

This character looks like 'cultivated earth in han

wán

A near-extinct character whose two-part form — 'p

dǎn

This character doesn’t exist — no oracle bones,

jué

This 'hand-prying' character began as a pictograph

yuè

This 'bend' character hasn’t been used in everyda

wèn

This character’s ‘beggar’ component (丐) is a p

biàn

This 7-stroke character hides a Warring States-era

dèn

This rare, punchy verb looks like 'hand + root' bu

è

This 7-stroke character began as a Bronze Age draw

This 'character' is a Japanese kanji ghost hauntin

bān

This 7-stroke character hides ancient bronze-age e

This 'collect' character hides a hand reaching dow

qiān

Despite its hand radical, 扦 is never a verb — it

This 'shake' character isn’t about motion — it’

A six-stroke 'cleaning' character that vanished fr

chǐ

This 'drag' character looks like a ruler (尺) wear

chā

This rare, three-stroke character isn’t just ‘to

fǎn

This five-stroke character looks like a hand turni

This character isn’t just ‘divination’ — it’s

shǒu

This 'hand' radical isn’t drawn from life—it’s