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.

zhuó

This character looks like 'wood + pig' but means '

Though pronounced qī like 'key', this character i

léng

Born as a carpenter’s symbol for a squared timber

chuí

This 'wooden cudgel' character looks like 'who' bu

rěn

This 'jujube tree' character hides an ancient visu

quān

A vanished bowl: 棬 is a phonetically elegant but

This rare shrub-character hides a Bronze Age land-

yuān

This rare literary character depicts crookedness s

This rare character is China’s ancient biometric

zhàn

This 'sheep pen' character hides a cliffside secre

cuò

This obscure character hides a 2,300-year-old bota

This ‘brother-tree’ character (木 + 弟) was born

táng

This 'cherry-apple' character hides a 3,000-year-o

This character hasn’t changed in 3,000 years — s

péng

This ‘shed’ character hides a rooftop in plain s

A 12-stroke visual pun: two identical 'wood' radic

zǎo

Its right side looks like ‘to say’ (曰), but 枣

chéng

This 8-stroke character hides a carpenter’s secre

pái

Looks like 'wood + line up' — and it literally me

fěi

This unassuming character names a single sacred tr

zhuō

This 'stick' isn't for stirring soup—it's a 3,000

chān

This 'length' character vanished from spoken Chine

zhuó

This character looks like 'wood + outstanding'—bu

kǔn

This character looks like 'wood + trapped'—but it

suō

This 'wood' radical character doesn’t mean 'wood'

This 'earth basket' character hides a sharp truth:

This character looks like 'wood + I' — but it’s

chén

Looks like 'wood + stretch' — and it is: every st