Though it looks like 'speech' + 'extend,' 诞 isn’

This 'oath' character hides a silent scream: its r

Though it looks like a simple speech radical plus

Originally a pictograph of a hand jerking open a c

Its right side is 公 (‘public’), its left is 讠

This 'astounded' character began as a frontier off

This sleek 5-stroke character began as a bronze-ag

This 'seeking' character began as a claw digging i

Its 18 strokes hide a Bronze Age image of a person

This 'raid' character hides a dragon coiled under

This 'lower garment' character hides a secret: its

Born from a robe draped over a grain-filled valley

This ‘split’ character hides a textile trauma in

This character looks like ‘clothing’ + ‘good fo

Originally a 'clothing + right-sound' compound, 袖

This 'gown' character hides a womb-shaped secret:

This character looks like clothing wrapping 'cente

This character began as a pictograph of fraying he

Born from ancient roadways and slow walking, 衍 en

A ‘barbarian’ character that shed its stigma to

Though it means 'candle', 蜡’s insect radical rev

Though it looks like 'righteous insect', 蚁 has no

Born as 'steam rising from a ritual cauldron,' thi

This character began as a worm devouring grain—an

This 8-stroke character began as a tiger devouring

A 3,000-year-old tiger pictograph crushing a kneel

Originally picturing warmth held within vegetation

Born as a pictograph of misty vines, 蔼 captures C