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.

huì

This ‘broom’ doesn’t sweep floors — it sweeps

tuàn

This nine-stroke character began as a boar’s head

This 'pig snout' radical hides in 'home', 'search'

gòu

This 13-stroke character hides a Warring States-er

This 'assistance' character hides two bows—one on

péng

This 'strong bow' character vanished from daily us

jiàng

This rare, poetic snare character hides a triple-l

jìng

Born in 1932 as China’s bespoke character for 'ra

shāo

This character isn’t about ‘ends’ in general —

quān

This 9-stroke character hides China’s first mass-

This 'stop' character hides a bow with slackened s

zhěn

弫 is not a real Chinese character — it has no hi

This 8-stroke character hides a Warring States bat

chāo

This character looks like a bow with a 'summoning'

This 'arc' character hides a bow — its 弓 radical

This rare character isn’t just 'carved bow' — it

This 'zero-stroke' character hides in plain sight:

tāo

This character looks like a bow wrapped in cloth

This obscure character hides a 2,500-year-old arch

chí

This six-stroke bow radical character depicts the

hóng

This 'great' character hides a bow — not for war,

This 'not' isn’t casual—it’s a bound bow from 3

gōng

This 3-stroke character began as a lifelike oracle

shì

This character looks like a bow aiming upward—bec

sān

This 'three-stroke' character isn’t about countin

èr

This isn’t just ‘two’ — it’s a 2,000-year-old

It's the most minimalist character imaginable — y

This 3-stroke character began as a pictograph of a