Browse "HSK2" Characters

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

lu:3

Born as a pictograph of soldiers marching under a

páng

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

jiāo

This ‘teach’ character contains a child, a mouth

kǎo

This ‘check’ character began as an elder wieldin

zhǎo

This character began as a hand probing under cabin

shǒu

This 'hand' isn’t just anatomy — it’s a 3,200-y

fáng

This 'house' character hides a door (户) and a roo

dǒng

This 'understanding' character literally weighs on

màn

This 'slow' character began as a picture of a woma

This ‘idea’ character contains a bell (ancient

qíng

This 'feeling' character hides a botanical secret:

nín

This 'you' has a heart literally built into it —

This ‘breath’ character hides a nose atop a hear

This 'think' character hides a farmer’s field ato

kuài

This 'fast' character has a heart radical — provi

máng

This ‘busy’ character hides a heart sprinting so

wǎng

This 'go' character isn’t about leaving — it’s

This 'younger brother' character hides an ancient

chuáng

This ‘bed’ once meant a low couch — and Li Bai

bāng

This 'help' character hides a cloth radical — bec

cháng

This ‘always’ character hides a ritual cloth —

Born as a sieve pictograph, 希 evolved from 'rare

This serene 3-stroke character began as a coiled s

zuǒ

This ‘left’ character began as a detailed drawin

shì

This ‘room’ character hides a 3,000-year-old roo

Originally a ritual scene under a roof — now the

wán

Its roof radical doesn’t mean 'house' here — it

hái

Though it looks like a child wearing a pig-mask (

xìng

This 'surname' character hides an ancient truth: i

shǐ

Though it means 'to begin', 始 hasn’t begun a sin

Originally a bride’s hair-binding ceremony in ora

mèi

Its ancient form literally pictures a woman + 'not

nǎi

This 5-stroke character — the shortest word for '

Originally a man crowned with a ritual hairpin, 夫

cháng

This six-stroke character began as a sunlit patch

bào

Originally a bronze-age image of a hand delivering

wèn

This 'ask' character isn’t built from 'words' or

chàng

This 'sing' character hides a double sun (昌) — a

This ‘elder brother’ character began as two mout

yuán

Though it looks like a simple mouth (口), 员 secre