Browse "HSK6" 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.

tuō

Its ancient form pictured a hand dragging a ceremo

This 8-stroke character looks like a hand pressing

bàn

This 'mixing' character hides a rebellious origin:

pāo

Originally picturing a hand scattering ash, 抛 evo

zhǔ

Looks like 'hand + master' — but it’s really 'ha

This ‘wipe’ character hides a poetic secret: its

Though it means 'to press against', 抵 also means

kàng

Originally a carpenter’s glyph showing a hand bra

shū

Though it looks like a simple hand gesture, 抒 hid

Born from a hand pressing down on a kneeling perso

chě

This 'pull' character originated as a hand yanking

niǔ

Born from a pictograph of a hand wrestling a twist

kòu

This 6-stroke hand-radical character began as a pi

gāng

This six-stroke character looks like a hand grippi

A five-stroke hand radical + 'split' glyph that lo

zhā

One tiny character — four strokes — holds two cl

biǎn

A ‘door’ radical enclosing flattened bamboo slip

jié

Though it looks like 'sun' under an 'axe', 截 was

xuán

Though it contains 心 ('heart'), 悬 isn’t about e

chéng

Its 心 (heart) radical reveals Chinese punishment

měng

This grass-topped character (13 strokes) once mean

xiàn

Originally 'first standard under shelter' — now t

fèn

This character visually fuses 'heart' and 'vigorou

dàn

This 'dread' character hides a hunting net (単) ov

biē

Its top half '敝' looks like a collapsing umbrella

bèi

Its right side 夂 isn’t just ‘a foot’ — it’s

yōu

This 7-stroke character began as a bronze-age imag

This character’s 11 strokes secretly depict a kne

cǎn

Its right side '参' once depicted three stars — n

This ‘compassion’ character hides a mother cradl

lèng

This 'distracted' character hides a secret: its ri

This 'foolish' character hides a monkey-shaped top

Though it looks like a sick person (疒) with a hea

Though it looks like 'if' + 'heart', this characte

chǔn

This 'stupid' character hides three worms — its 2

duò

This 'lazy' character hides a moral earthquake: it

diàn

This character looks like a heart stepping into a

huò

This 'confusion' character literally cages the min

wǎn

This character’s right side (宛) once depicted a

dào

This character fuses ‘heart’ with ‘lofty’ — n