Browse "HSK5" 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.

xiāng

This 'box' isn’t for packing—it’s a stone-and-w

tíng

Originally a pictograph of a person beneath a cere

Though it looks like a 'roof over a car,' 库 origi

Originally a Bronze Age tally-keeping courtyard un

yòu

Its ancient oracle bone form showed a wobbling inf

huàn

Born from a stripped-down version of ‘profound my

This 'money' character hides its ancient identity:

Born from ‘sunset under grass’ + ‘cloth’, 幕 i

Born as 'cloth width' in bronze inscriptions, 幅 e

This 'mat' character evolved from ancient woven pi

lián

This 'curtain' character began as a merchant's clo

Originally a coiled serpent in oracle bones — now

Originally a ritual-bound human figure measuring e

屿

This ‘islet’ isn’t just small — it’s a mounta

dǎo

This 'island' character hides a bird (鸟) on a mou

àn

Though it looks like 'mountain + dry', 岸 original

shǔ

Originally a bronze-age image of hands submitting

Though it looks like a corpse (尸) overseeing a wo

Originally a pictograph of a person resting under

Originally a pictograph of a crouching person pinn

jiè

This character looks like a roof over a passage —

wěi

This 'tail' character began as a pig's curly tail

chě

This 'ruler' character abandoned measurement 1,200

shàng

Born from a bronze-age priest raising a sacred win

xún

This ‘search’ character began as a taut measurin

shè

Originally a dynamic oracle-bone drawing of an arr

bǎo

Originally a roof sheltering jade and ancient shel

chǒng

This character began as a royal seal of favor — a

kuān

Its roof radical 宀 shelters 見 — literally 'seei

níng

This 'peace' character began as a pictograph of a

This character is literally 'dusk under a roof' —

This 'reside' character isn’t about addresses—it

This ‘silent’ character hides a monk under a roo

宿

This 'lodge' character hides a kneeling person und

yàn

Its roof radical 宀 signals 'gathering under shelt

xuān

Originally a pictograph of official speech echoing

guān

Originally a pictograph of a sealed administrative

shǒu

Its ancient form shows a hand holding a weapon und

yùn

This 5-stroke character began as a Bronze Age draw

nèn

Though it contains 女 (woman), 嫩 isn’t gendered