Browse "HSK6" Characters

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

昼

zhòu

Ancient scribes drew a sun under a roof-shape to m

晋

jìn

Looks like 'sun raised by hands' — born as a ritu

晃

huǎng

This character looks like a sun trapped in a wobbl

昧

mèi

A sun radical sitting atop 'tip' (末) creates a ch

昔

xī

This character began as a drought glyph — cracked

昏

hūn

Born as a pictograph of the setting sun, 昏 evolve

昌

chāng

Born as two identical suns carved in oracle bone s

昂

áng

Though it means 'to lift,' 昂's radical is 日—the

旺

wàng

Though it looks like 'sun + king', 旺 was never ab

旱

hàn

Ancient scribes drew a person kneeling under a bla

旨

zhǐ

Born as a sunrise sacrifice, this 6-stroke sun-ove

旋

xuán

This ‘revolving’ character hides a spinning-top

旗

qí

This 'banner' character hides a Qing dynasty army

斯

sī

A classical demonstrative meaning 'this' — now re

斩

zhǎn

Though it contains 车 (car), 斩 has nothing to do

斥

chì

A 5-stroke axe (斤) slicing through error — this

斟

zhēn

This 13-stroke character fuses ‘hand,’ ‘ancient

斑

bān

Though it looks like it contains 'walking' (辶), m

敷

fū

Its seal-script origin shows a hand applying somet

敞

chǎng

Born as a Bronze Age ritual act — ripping off a t

攻

gōng

Born from a carpenter’s square and a warrior’s s

搅

jiǎo

This 'disturb' character isn’t passive — it’s a

摊

tān

Its right side isn’t ‘difficult’ (难) — it’s

攒

cuán

This 19-stroke character looks like a crowd cramme

携

xié

Its bronze-age pictograph showed a hand gripping a

搀

chān

Its right side looks like 'star-studded participat

拢

lǒng

Though it looks like 'dragon' + 'hand,' 拢 isn’t

攀

pān

Its 19 strokes form two grasping hands, a tree, an

掷

zhì

Its ancient form showed a hand casting sacred toke

搁

gē

This 'place' character evolved from a foot steppin

拧

níng

Looks like 'hand + peace' — but this character we

擎

qíng

This 16-stroke 'heroic lift' combines HAND + CAPIT

擅

shàn

This 'unauthorized excellence' character hides a h

撼

hàn

Its right side looks like 'feel' (感), but 撼 does

扑

pū

Born as a bronze-age hunter tackling a bird, 扑 st

抚

fǔ

Its ancient form shows a hand calming a kneeling p

拨

bō

Born from plucking ancient zither strings, this 8-

撤

chè

This 15-stroke 'removal' character hides a Warring

挠

náo

This 'scratch' character evolved from ancient ideo

撒

sā

This 'let-go' character hides a ritual origin: anc