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.

刃

rèn

This 3-stroke character began as a dot placed exac

刂

dāo

This isn’t a character—it’s Chinese writing’s

刁

diāo

Only two strokes — yet it packs centuries of cult

函

hán

Born as an ancient arrow case, 函 evolved into Chi

凼

dàng

This six-stroke character hides a poetic truth: it

凵

kǎn

This two-stroke character is the ancient carved gr

凳

dèng

This 'bench' character hides a climbing verb in it

凯

kǎi

This 'triumphal music' character hides a bronze-ag

凞

xī

This 'zero-stroke' character isn’t missing stroke

凛

lǐn

This 'cold' isn’t about temperature — it’s the

凔

cāng

This 'cold' character isn’t about shivering — it

凓

lì

This character doesn’t officially exist — 凓 is

凋

diāo

Though it means 'withered,' 凋 isn’t about death

凊

qìng

This elegant character for 'cool' appears only in

凇

sōng

This 'icicle' character hides a pine tree in its b

凅

gù

This rare character looks like 'ice + solid' but m

冽

liè

This 'ice + line' character doesn’t just mean col

冶

yě

This character looks icy (冫) but means fiery smel

冱

hù

This six-stroke character hides a frozen handshake

冫

bīng

This 'ice radical' isn't just about cold — it's a

幂

mì

This 'power' character began as a silk cloth drape

冧

lín

This 'collapse' character was invented in 20th-cen

冥

míng

Born from a buried sun under water and roof, 冥 is

冢

zhǒng

Its 'cover' radical (冖) isn't shelter — it's a c

冞

mí

This 'deep' character isn't about depth — it's ab

冘

yín

A 4-stroke fossil of classical Chinese thought: no

冗

rǒng

This 4-stroke character began as a pictograph of f

冖

mì

This two-stroke 'cover' radical isn’t a word — i