This character was invented in the 1800s solely to

Originally a pictograph of a cow's head on a ritua

Born from a coiling snake glyph, this 7-stroke mou

Ancient oracle bones show 司 as a hand directing a

This 'right' character began as a detailed drawing

Originally a banner pole commanding armies, 千 evo

This 5-stroke character began as a Bronze Age farm

This 'help' character literally shows added streng

Originally a ritual knife marking something 'set a

This 'permission' character hides a hawk — its ri

Born as two hands reaching for one ritual vessel,

Originally a nobleman dividing grain fairly — now

This 8-stroke character hides a Bronze Age bluepri

Though it means ‘convenient’ or ‘cheap’, 便 or

Though it looks like 'dawn person,' 但 has nothing

This character began as a person leaning against a

Born as 'a person presenting speech to authority,'

Originally a pictograph of a sentry standing guard

Three identical horizontal strokes — the world’s

This 8-stroke character began as a lifelike oracle

This 5-stroke character looks like a foot stepping

Originally a sun shining *through* a doorway — no

Originally a ritual robe worn to declare rank — n

Born as a ritual axe over a mouth in oracle bones,

This 'sun' character began as a glowing dot-in-a-c

Born from a sunset glyph, 外 doesn’t just mean 'o

Born as a pictograph of roasting meat over fire,

Originally a pictograph of a person resting inside

This 'still' character hides a walking person circ

Born as a coiled snake in oracle bone script, this

This four-stroke character began as two walking pe

Born as a fetus-in-womb pictograph, 体 evolved int

This 'two' doesn’t look like 2 — it’s a symmetr

This 'wait' character hides bamboo in plain sight

Born as 'eye-on-hand' in ancient bronzes, this 11-

This character began as a bird flying forward — n

Originally a picture of warp threads on a loom —

This character started as a warrior grabbing treas

This 'so' character isn't a word at all — it's an

This 'passing' character began as a Bronze Age ske