Born as an axe chopping wood, 析 evolved into Chin

Though it means 'village,' 村 was invented late in

This 'not yet' character began as a treetop — and

This four-stroke 'tree' is the radical behind 1,20

Born as a sunrise ritual scene, 朝 fused time, dir

Though it looks like a moon character, 朗’s true

This 'substitute' character 替 began as a bronze-a

Born as a steaming ancestral rice pot, this charac

Originally a pictograph of sunlight filtering thro

This character started as a pictograph of the sun

This 'sun with wobbly rings' started as a cosmic h

Though it has the 'sun' radical, 智 isn't about li

Originally a pictograph of sunlight radiating outw

This 'descendant' character began as two suns — a

This 'ten-day period' character began as a sun wit

This 'dawn' character began as a sun kissing the h

Born as a bronze-age banner command, this 9-stroke

This 'inclined' character began as a tilted ladle

This 4-stroke character began as a bronze-age grai

This 'enemy' character hides a tongue — because i

This character began as a bronze-age priest holdin

Born from a hand arranging bamboo slips, 叙 isn’t

Its left side looks like 'begging' (求), but add t

Its ancient form showed a crouching person under a

This 'absorption' character began as a hand seizin

This 'blocking' character hides a pastoral origin:

Its right side looks like 'bai' (hundred), but thi

Born as a hand pulling a taut bowstring, this 6-st

Its right side 齐 once showed three grain stalks

This 'grasp' character evolved from ancient battle

This 'hand-meeting-force' character evolved from a

Born as a bronze-age pictograph of a club striking

Though it means 'to embrace,' 拥 evolved from anci

Though it looks like 'inspect' + 'hand', 捡 isn't

Its right side 壮 means 'strong' — so 撞 literall

Its right side 其 looks like scissors cutting — b

Born from 'gropping in dusk,' this 13-stroke chara

Born from hands stroking sheep’s wool, this chara

This 'pluck' character hides a poetic paradox: its

This 14-stroke character hides a battlefield secre