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.

juē

A 15-stroke hand-action character that doesn’t ju

liào

This 'put down' character evolved from 'hand + tal

yáo

This 'character' isn't real — it's a centuries-ol

biāo

This character began as a hand flicking a banner—

chān

Its hand radical + 'three people' component visual

zhé

This 14-stroke character hides a Tang-dynasty scri

This 'imitation' character literally grew from mos

jiǎo

This 'knocking' character isn't about noise — it'

tuán

This 7-stroke character hides a 2,500-year-old ima

shū

This elegant, rarely used character for 'dice' hid

kōu

This 7-stroke character looks like a hand gripping

shàn

This character doesn't exist — it's a digital gho

niè

This rare character looks like 'three ears' but me

áo

This character looks like a hand striking an arrog

zhí

This character looks like a hand grabbing a pheasa

huà

This 'wide' character doesn’t describe space — i

zǒng

A near-extinct literary variant of 總 — visually

luò

This 'stacking' character hides a hand (扌) wrestl

guàn

This 11-stroke character looks like a hand slammin

chī

Born in classical anthologies, 摛 looks like a han

liǎn

This character isn’t just 'transport' — it’s a

féng

This 'wide' character isn’t about size—it’s abo

bìng

This 'discard' character hides a breath-holding se

guāi

This 'slap' character hides a melon — not as food

jiū

This 'strangle' character hides a coiled rope in i

èn

A modern character forged from phonetic borrowing

This 'cover' character hides a secret: its 'five'

This character looks like two arms locking — and