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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
眉 méi       
Explanation:eyebrow
This is a very good example of pictogram. The  on top of eye  represents the eyebrows.
马 mă       
Explanation:horse
（  ）is a pictographic character which depicts a horse with its head upwards, tail downwards and back to the right; it even depicts the hair. But as the character developed it lost these original pict...
令 lìng       
Explanation:order
In ancient script, the top half of 令 is a large wooden bell. In ancient times, people would often swing large wooden bells to signal military commands. The bottom half of the character is a man kneeling dawn (
力 lì       
Explanation:power; strength
From the oracle bones we can see that the original form of （ ） is like an ancient plough; the upper part, which curves at the bottom, is the wooden handle of a plough, and the lower part is its iron head....
老 lăo       
Explanation:old
The oracle bones picture the character（  ）as an old man facing the left, with a hunched back, long hair and a stick in his hand. Other characters relating to “old” or “elders” ...
牢 láo       
Explanation:prison; firm; durable
    Looking at the original form of this character we can see it looks like an “ox” enclosed in a corral （  ）. As the character evolved, a mark was added which represented ...
口 kŏu       
Explanation:Mouth
This is a pictograph of a mouth with happy corners. The original meaning of is “mouth”, and from this meaning it is extended to represent 人口 (rén kǒu: “person’s mouth”--- “population”). “五口之家” (wǔ kǒu zhī jiā) “family of five mouths&r...;
看 kàn       
Explanation:look at; watch; see
This character is a combination of two parts: the upper is a hand （ ）， and the lower part is an eye （  ...
开 kāi      
Explanation:Open
The original character开was comprised of three parts: on the two sides were the double doors （ ）; in the middle of the doors there was a horizontal stroke representing the bolt （ ）; and under the boltthere was a pair of hands, indicating two hands removing the door bolt （ ）. The original meaning of 开i...
教 jiào       
Explanation:teach; instruct
 The original character showed a hand holding a stick on the right side（  ）, and on the lower left, a child with some kind of marks on its head from being beaten（... </a></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <br /> <div align=