Originally a ritual scene under a roof — now the

Its roof radical doesn’t mean 'house' here — it

Though it looks like a child wearing a pig-mask (

This 'surname' character hides an ancient truth: i

Though it means 'to begin', 始 hasn’t begun a sin

Originally a bride’s hair-binding ceremony in ora

Its ancient form literally pictures a woman + 'not

This 5-stroke character — the shortest word for '

Originally a man crowned with a ritual hairpin, 夫

This six-stroke character began as a sunlit patch

Originally a bronze-age image of a hand delivering

This 'ask' character isn’t built from 'words' or

This 'sing' character hides a double sun (昌) — a

This ‘elder brother’ character began as two mout

Though it looks like a simple mouth (口), 员 secre

This character was invented in the 1800s solely to

Originally a pictograph of a cow's head on a ritua

Born from a coiling snake glyph, this 7-stroke mou

Ancient oracle bones show 司 as a hand directing a

This 'right' character began as a detailed drawing

Originally a banner pole commanding armies, 千 evo

This 5-stroke character began as a Bronze Age farm

This 'help' character literally shows added streng

Originally a ritual knife marking something 'set a

This 'permission' character hides a hawk — its ri

Born as two hands reaching for one ritual vessel,

Originally a nobleman dividing grain fairly — now

This 8-stroke character hides a Bronze Age bluepri

Though it means ‘convenient’ or ‘cheap’, 便 or

Though it looks like 'dawn person,' 但 has nothing

This character began as a person leaning against a

Born as 'a person presenting speech to authority,'

Originally a pictograph of a sentry standing guard

Three identical horizontal strokes — the world’s

This 8-stroke character began as a lifelike oracle

This 5-stroke character looks like a foot stepping

Originally a sun shining *through* a doorway — no

Originally a ritual robe worn to declare rank — n

Born as a ritual axe over a mouth in oracle bones,

This 'sun' character began as a glowing dot-in-a-c