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.

shī

This 'teacher' character began as a military comma

suì

This 'age' character originally pictured a farmer

shǎo

This 4-stroke character began as scattered dots ov

shāng

Originally a bronze ritual vessel, this character

shén

This tiny 4-stroke character began as 'ten items'

Originally four plain tally marks, 四 evolved into

shuǐ

This four-stroke character began as a flowing orac

sān

Born as three identical oracle bone tally marks,

shí

This two-stroke cross is the oldest surviving Chin

shuō

This 'speak' character hides a 3,000-year-old barg

shēng

Born as a sprout breaking earth in oracle bones, t

shí

This ‘time’ character began as a sun observed by

shàng

This deceptively simple 3-stroke character began a