This 'full' character began as a bronze-age sketch

Its ten strokes visually mimic jagged, involuntary

Originally a glowing crown — not a person — 皇 e

Originally two people standing side-by-side under

This character’s right side looks like 'flat grou

This 'addiction' character hides a medical secret:

Born in early 20th-century medical translation, 癌

A 'sick' radical paired with a 'snake' sound — th

Its name literally means 'sickness that stays' —

This ‘paralysis’ character originated as a picto

This character looks like a sick person holding up

Originally a sick person struck by an arrow — now

Born from 'sickness' + 'change', this 9-stroke cha

This 'scar' character hides a snake-shaped 巴 clin

Born in Ming slang, this 'pimple' character never

This ‘dredge’ character began as a Bronze Age im

This 13-stroke character began as a bronze-age dra

This 'field' character hides a longevity symbol (

This 'border' character contains a field (田) and

This 'different' character began as a ritual gestu

This 'foreign' character literally means 'observin

This 'livestock' character hides a Bronze Age fiel

Born as a farmer’s boundary stake beside a field,

This ‘fear’ character hides a kneeling person be

This 'field' character began as a Bronze Age bird

This character doesn’t exist in ancient inscripti

Born from ancient observations of fish gasping bac

This serene five-stroke character began as a picto

This character didn’t exist in ancient China — i

This 4-stroke character began as a clay mold in or

This 'petal' character started as a sliced gourd

Though it means 'to carve,' 琢 was born from jade

Though it means ‘bead,’ 珠 originally depicted a

Originally a ritual glyph for ominous animal omens

This 'hunting' character hides a dog radical and a

Ancient Chinese didn’t draw cages for ‘prison’

Its radical shows a dog — but the top part isn’t

This 7-stroke character depicts a mythical cripple

Though it looks like 'good wolf' (良), 狼 is anyth

Though it looks like a dog radical plus 'squeeze,'