Born from bamboo slips bound with cord, 篇 isn’t

Originally a pictograph of a bound servant smashed

Originally a carved wooden tally stick, 牌 evolved

This character looks like water being forcibly lau

Though it means 'general', 普 began as a bronze-ag

Born from scribes aligning bamboo strips, 排 still

This 'approval' character began as a hand wielding

This 7-stroke character began as a pictograph of a

This six-stroke character was invented in the 1920

This six-stroke character was invented in the 1920

This character looks like 'flesh + rebellion' — b

This 'tray' character evolved from a bronze-age ri

Originally a taut animal hide pinned on oracle bon

This 'bottle' character hides ancient kiln-fired c

Originally a pictograph of a wood-slice with visib

This 8-stroke character began as a clawed hand gri

Its 'white' component (白) is a phonetic ghost —

This 'beer' character was invented in the 1870s —

Originally a bronze-age diagram of level ground,

This 'run' character (páo) isn't about sprinting

This 'ticket' character hides an altar — its bott

This ‘side’ character began as a bronze-age diag

This 'apple' character 苹 originally depicted duck

This ‘floating’ character began as a banner in w

This 'friend' character began as two ancient cowri