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Introduction
The resemblance between a pictographic character and its object helps learners remember the Chinese characters. Each pictographic character in this column is presented with pictures and detailed explanations. For instance, in 休 xiū to rest, the radical on the left, 亻means "a person", and the part on the right, 木, means wood or tree, so the meaning comes from the idea "a person is leaning against a tree to have a rest."
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火 huŏ
吉 jí
安 ān
包 bāo
本 bĕn
比 bĭ
笔 bĭ
冰 bīng
城 chéng
出 chū
从 cóng
东 dōng
女 nǚ       
Explanation:woman; girl
In ancient times the position of women was as low as that of slaves, so the earliest known pictographs for woman show her in bowing position with her arms crossed in front of her body （ ）. Subsequent dev...
牛 niú       
Explanation:ox; cow; bull
The original form of this character was the front view of an ox’s head . The two sides of it which curved upwards are the horns of the ox, and the two strokes below the horn stretching out are ears. Later the ears were straightened to be horizontal stoke and the form of the character became wha...
鸟 niăo       
Explanation:bird
鸟is a pictograph of bird with a head, wings, claws, and a tail, which are easily identifiable; later, the eyes were also added.
男 nán       
Explanation:man ; male
The original character of was combination of two parts: the left side was a field （  ）, and the right side was a plough-like tool （
目 mù       
Explanation:eye
The drawing of （  ） looks just like a real eye, and the original meaning of this character is precisely that. Later the curve indicating the iris of the eye was flattened, and the eye was turned to s...
木 mù       
Explanation:tree; wood
As we can see, this character is a pictograph of a tree （  ）. The upper part is the tree top with its branches  （
末 mò       
Explanation:tip; end
On the contrary of
明 míng       
Explanation:bright
In its ancient written form, the left side of 明represents the sun while the right side represents the moon （  ）. As the moon dips below the mountains and the sun just deigns to rise, it heralds daybr...
门 mén       
Explanation:door ; gate
门is a pictograph showing a set of double doors （  ）. 门is also a radical; the characters with this radical usually have something to do with the meaning of “door” or “gate”.
美 mĕi       
Explanation:beauty
In ancient Chinese, 美 resembles the shape of a goat’s head or of feathers placed on a person’s head as a form of decoration （  ）. The ancient Chinese felt that this was very attractive an...