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.

This character doesn’t mean ‘break’ — it means

dài

A 'death radical' paired with a 'platform' charact

tiǎn

This character’s right side (丏) originally depic

This 'death' character hides an altar under its co

This elegant 'death' character hides a whispering

This character looks like a death radical plus 'en

cān

A five-stroke femur bone pressed into service as a

chuò

This 14-stroke literary relic looks like liquid dr

chù

This 'angry' character hides a tiger in its left h

hān

A 17-stroke literary ghost — 歛 doesn’t shout 'I

This 16-stroke character hides ancient grief in it

xiāo

This rare, heat-charged character looks like 'high

This rare character looks like a minimalist flute

xīn

This ‘pleased’ isn’t yours — it’s the ancesto

shà

This 'drink' character doesn’t mean quenching thi

kǎn

This rare character looks like a sigh carved in in

欿

kǎn

This 3,000-year-old character visually enacts a hu

chǐ

欼 is not a Chinese character — it has zero strok

chuā

This 12-stroke character looks like a mouth spitti

This character looks like someone yawning while le

āi

This 11-stroke interjection looks like a sighing m

This 'sob' character hides in plain sight: its rig

shuò

This 11-stroke 'suck' character hides a lunar glyp

kuǎn

This elegant variant 欵 isn't outdated — it's cal

kài

This 'cough' character hides a dramatic ancient me

This rare character isn’t just ‘to blow’—it’s

léi

This 'sedan' character hides thunder in its struct

lǎn

This ‘olive’ character refuses to stand alone —