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.

稿

gǎo

Though it means ‘manuscript,’ 稿’s 禾 (grain) r

jià

This 'sowing' character hides a 'home' inside — n

dào

Its right side looks like 'island' (岛), but it’s

chóu

Born from packed grain stalks in ancient bronze sc

zhì

This 'infantile' character hides a farming secret:

Born from ancient fields where grain stalks stood

chēng

This 'scale' character hides a grain of truth: its

Though it uses the 'grain' radical 禾, 秃 has noth

qín

Its radical 禸 — one of Chinese's rarest — depic

huò

This 'disaster' isn’t random—it’s divine paybac

xiáng

This 'auspicious' character hides a sheep sacrific

This ‘ancestor’ character began as a carved ston

This 16-stroke stone-radical character began as a

zhuān

Though made of clay, this character wears the ‘st

This 'tap' character began as a stone slamming ont

cuō

Born as a pictograph of polishing antlers with sto

bàng

This 'scale' character hides a thunderous origin:

This 'magnetic' character hides a poetic ancient m

tàn

This 'carbon' character was invented in the 1800s

bēi

This 'monument' character hides a humble origin: i

Though it means 'to smash', 砸 evolved not from vi

zhǔ

This 'gaze' character doesn’t depict an eye alone

zhān

Its 18 strokes literally draw eyes climbing upward

shùn

This 17-stroke character began as a drawing of eye

dèng

This 17-stroke character fuses ‘eye’ and ‘ascen

mán

This 'eye' character doesn’t mean seeing — it’s

miáo

Though it means 'to aim,' 瞄 isn’t about weapons

This 'witness' character hides a courtroom in its

cǎi

This 'attention' character hides a tiny rebellion:

This 'amicable' character hides an ancient truth:

This character began as an eye + staff + kneeling

kuàng

This character’s right side isn’t ‘king’ — it

Though it looks like ‘eye + rice’, 眯 was born f

zhǎ

This ‘blink’ character hides a phonetic secret:

máng

This character began as an eye crossed with an 'X'

dīng

This 7-stroke character fuses 'eye' and 'nail' —

jiān

This character began as an eye peering into a grai

méng

This character’s ‘vessel’ radical (皿) isn’t d

dào

This 'steal' character hides a bronze-age heist sc

chéng

This character began as a bronze jar overflowing w