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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
从 cóng       
Explanation:from
From early oracle bones, we can see two people standing close together, facing towards the left （ ）, one person following the other. So “follow” is the original meaning of this charac...
出 chū       
Explanation:go out; come out
The original character出is a combination of two parts: the lower part is a line which curves upwards indicating a doorway or a cave-dwelling（ ）;the upper part is a foot with the toe pointing upwar...
城 chéng       
Explanation:city
In ancient script, the left half of the character 城 resembles the shape of a city wall while the right half represents a weapon; thus the character 城 means 守卫 (safeguard; protect). Ancient city walls can be divided into earthen, stone, and brick city walls, according to the materials used in their co...
冰 bīng       
Explanation:
In the oracle bones this character is in the form of （ ）,like protruding ice pieces, so originally 冰 was a pictographic character. But later a 水 “water” radical was added to it （
笔 bĭ       
Explanation:pen
This was originally an ideogram. In the oracle bones, the upper right part of the character is a hand （ ）, and the left side in the shape of a pen （
比 bĭ       
Explanation:compare; close to
This character originally shows two people standing together facing towards the right（ ）, very close to each other, giving us the original meaning of “close”, as we can see from the w...
本 bĕn       
Explanation:the root of a plant; foundation
An additional short stroke is put near the base of the character 木（ ）, originally meaning “tree”, it is to emphasize where the roots of the tree are. So, “root” is the ori...
包 bāo       
Explanation:bag
In ancient Chinese script, 包resembles the shape of an as yet fully-formed fetus enveloped in the placenta. 包 can be used as a verb and , in this sense, it means to use paper, cloth, or other materials to wrap up something. Examples of this include:包书(wrap up a book in paper; put a jacket on a book) a...
安 ān       
Explanation:peaceful; quiet; calm
This character （ ）is comprised of two parts: the outer portion is a house （ ）. Inside the...