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.

rèn

This five-stroke character looks like a person wit

shì

This 5-stroke character hides China’s entire impe

This 4-stroke character is a minimalist cartoon of

Though it looks like a person (人), 仄 isn’t abou

A 4-stroke ghost of ancient measurement — still h

rén

This two-stroke radical isn't spoken aloud — it's

mén

This 21-stroke character hides three mountains in

dǎn

Born as a brimming grain vessel in bronze inscript

hēng

Originally a steaming ritual cauldron on oracle bo

hài

Originally a pig’s head in oracle bone script, 亥

kàng

A four-stroke celestial label hiding in plain sigh

tóu

This two-stroke 'lid' radical isn’t a word — it

Its ancient form shows two people frantically movi

gèn

This six-stroke character looks like two horizons

This 'his' looks like a minimalist banner — carve

chù

This three-stroke character encodes ancient ritual

jué

It’s not a word — it’s the invisible signature

This two-stroke character—亄—looks like a bent l

lín

This character vanished from spoken Chinese over 2

qián

This 'heaven' character began as a dragon coiling

Born in Cantonese markets — not ancient bronzes

xué

This zero-stroke character doesn’t exist — 乴 is

nāng

A zero-stroke 'character' — not officially encode

This 6-stroke character hides a centuries-old ritu

gài

A vanished variant of 蓋—appearing only in ancien

miē

A two-stroke Cantonese rebel — born from scribble

zhòng

This six-stroke glyph is a frozen snapshot of anci

zhà

This 5-stroke character began as an oracle bone im