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 'up' isn't vertical—it's a scholar's desk ti

guì

This 12-stroke character hides a collapsed human f

nǎng

A 25-stroke kinetic masterpiece — every stroke ma

lǎn

Though it looks like 'viewing' (览), 揽 is all abo

jué

Its 23 strokes hide a prehistoric eagle’s talons

diān

This rare ‘tumble’ character hides a foot radica

zuàn

A 23-stroke fist-clenching verb born from ancient

luán

This 10-stroke character began as a hand twisting

cuān

Born from ancient ritual steam rising in a wine ve

rǎng

This 20-stroke character looks like a hand wrestli

yīng

A 14-stroke hand (扌) gripping an 'infant' (婴) —

qiān

This elegant, near-extinct character encodes 2,000

This 'destroy' character isn’t drawn from fire or

huō

This 19-stroke rarity looks like 'hand + confusion

niǎn

This 'expel' character hides a secret: its right s

shū

This 'set forth' character isn’t about speaking—

This 'character' doesn’t exist—it’s a digital g

léi

This 'beat' character vanished from daily use cent

This 17-stroke character hides a pheasant in its r

This 'hand-sliding' character hides a linguistic s

sòu

This 16-stroke character looks like a hand rhythmi

liè

This 'gripping' character hides a battlefield secr

xié

This elegant 'collect' character hides a secret: i

bìn

Born from 'guest' but weaponized by 'hand,' this c

huò

This rare, literary 'trap' character isn’t just a

This 'dip-and-stain' character looks like three fr

xǐng

This 17-stroke character is the only Chinese verb

dǎo

This character isn’t just ‘stir’ — it’s the t