Chinese Characters Starting with "L start"

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

lóng

This character looks like an ear listening to a dr

Born as a rice kernel with a dot, it evolved into

lóng

This 'cage' character hides a dragon — not mythic

liú

Its name literally means 'sickness that stays' —

liè

This 'hunting' character hides a dog radical and a

láng

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

láo

This 'pen' character for cattle evolved into the g

Born as a pictograph of fire in a sheltered chambe

lu:4

Born from 'water' and 'thoughtful containment,' 滤

làn

Its right side is 监 (supervision), but the water

liū

This character looks like 'water staying' (氵+留),

lín

Its right side is 'forest' — because 淋 doesn’t

lán

This 'fence' character hides a floral homophone —

liáng

Born as a pictograph of a wooden beam, 梁 became t

liàng

This character’s right side 京 once meant 'watcht

lǒng

Though it looks like 'dragon' + 'hand,' 拢 isn’t

lāo

This 'fishing-up' character evolved from ancient w

lōu

This 'hug' character began as a pictograph of coil

lu:e4

Originally a hawk snatching prey in bronze script,

lèng

This 'distracted' character hides a secret: its ri

láng

Born from aristocratic mansions, this character st

lián

Its 13 strokes encode ancient political philosophy

lu:3

This 'shoe' character evolved from an oracle bone

lu:3

Though it looks like 'two bells over a corpse,' 屡

lán

Though it has the 'woman' radical, 婪 isn’t about

lǒng

A dragon-shaped ridge of earth — where ancient ag

lào

Looks like 'mouth + knife' — but it's actually 'm

This mouth-radical character doesn’t mean 'wind'

This 'cheer particle' looks like a mouth pulling a

lìn

Though it looks like a mouth guarding a 'W', 吝 is

lún

This six-stroke character hides a bronze-age visio

lu:3

This ‘companion’ character hides two mouths stac

líng

This 'actor' character literally means 'a person w

lóng

This 5-stroke character began as a detailed oracle

lèi

Born from a Bronze Age ‘person + dog’ glyph, 类

lǐng

Originally a bronze-age sketch of a collar framing

líng

Born as 'divine rain descending,' 灵 evolved from

léi

This character began as ancient drummers pounding

liù

This character doesn’t mean 'six' — that’s a wi

liàn

This 'chain' character hides a bronze-age merger: