Chinese Characters Starting with "S 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.

使

shǐ

Originally a pictograph of an official wielding au

shuāng

Born as two mirrored hands in bronze script, 双 is

sài

Anciently a ritual offering to gods — now the hea

shān

Though it looks like 'mountain' + 'clothing', 衫 i

shū

Its 'tongue' radical isn’t about speaking—it’s

shēng

This 'sound' character began as a Bronze Age drum

suàn

Born from bamboo tally sticks held in hands and wa

shòu

This 'thin' character hides a medical diagnosis in

shāo

This character’s right side (尧) isn’t just phon

shù

This 'tree' isn’t just botanical — its right sid

shù

It began as a pictograph of bound firewood — and

sǎo

This six-stroke 'sweep' character evolved from a p

shì

Originally a bronze-age diagram of a walled market

shān

This 3-stroke character is a near-perfect 3,000-ye

shǐ

This 5-stroke character began as a hand writing in

shū

This 'uncle' character began as a hand harvesting

shuā

This 'brush' character evolved from a bronze-age s

sǎn

This ‘umbrella’ hides a 2,000-year-old visual pu

shì

Born as three horizontal lines for grandfather-fat

shù

Originally a hand tallying sticks while stepping

shí

Originally a pictograph of grain stored safely und

suī

This ‘although’ character hides an ancient insec

sòng

This 'send' character hides a walking radical — p

shēn

This character began as an oracle-bone drawing of

shì

Born 3,000 years ago as 'speech + ritual standard,

This 'complain' character hides a legal past: its

This character began as a drawing of a human face

shào

Though it looks like a simple 'shao', this charact

shǒu

This 'hand' isn’t just anatomy — it’s a 3,200-y

This 'think' character hides a farmer’s field ato

shì

This ‘room’ character hides a 3,000-year-old roo

shǐ

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

Ancient oracle bones show 司 as a hand directing a

shì

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

suǒ

This 'so' character isn't a word at all — it's an

shí

Born as a Bronze Age scribe's mark on bamboo, 识 e

shéi

Though it looks like 'speech + bird,' 谁 has zero

shì

This ‘look’ character doesn’t depict an eye —

shuì

This 'sleep' character doesn’t show a person lyin

shū

This 'book' character began as a hand wielding a b