This six-stroke character began as a Bronze Age wa

A six-stroke door (门) imprisoning a 'horse' (马)

This 'leisure' character began as a barred gate —

This 'closed door' character hides a bolt — not j

This 'dodge' character hides a door — and inside

This 'chain' character hides a bronze-age merger:

Born as a bronze-age iron bolt, 锁 now locks scree

This 'pot' character hides a phonetic secret: 呙 o

Though it means 'to melt,' 销 isn’t for ice or ch

This 'bell' character hides a commander under its

Its left side is metal (钅), its right side means

This 'cliff-and-village' character once measured h

This character began as a Bronze Age image of poun

This 'vinegar' character is literally 'old wine'

This 'drunk' character hides a wine jar and a 'zoo

Born from ancient wine rituals, 配 embodies China

Originally two people bowing face-to-face in oracl

Born as ‘regulated walking’ in ancient military

Its 16 strokes trace a graceful exit — not panic,

Originally a pictograph of someone walking away wh

This character looks like a person walking — but

Born as a pictograph of a bound servant running wi

Its ancient form showed 'guarding' — but today it

Though it looks like 'big' (大) walking (辶), 达 d

Originally a pictograph of a craftsman walking tow

Originally a ritual bean-offering to lure spirits,

Though it looks like a simple 'way,' 途 is a philo

Born as a pictograph of a person chasing a deer,

Its seal-script origin shows a stream forcing thro

Its left side 兆 originally depicted trembling lim

Born from an oracle-bone image of a foot backing a

This 'walking + method' character embodies Confuci

Born as 'a hand turning while walking backward,'

Born from a flying bird glyph, 迅 doesn’t just me

This 'agriculture' character began as a hand wield

This character’s 16 strokes encode a 2,300-year-o

This 'resign' character began as a kneeling person

Though it looks like a 'cart' (车) character, 辑 h

Born as a chariot wheel on bronze inscriptions, 轮

Though it means ‘generation,’ 辈 originated as a