36 Chinese Pictogram Characters

Over time, Chinese characters are developed based on several strategies. Some basic Chinese characters were originally pictograms, or pictographs (象形, literally meaning “form imitation). They symbolize objects or express meanings iconically. Pictogram Chinese characters are easy to recognize as the objects represented in the symbols can be seen as soon as the meaning is revealed.

Around 600 Chinese characters are pictograms. Here we are going to look at 36 pictogram characters: if you look at them carefully, you can actually identify their meanings just from how they are written.

马 – horse、
夫 – man、
花 – flower
羊 – goat、
虎 – tiger、
象 – elephant、
鹿 – deer、
豕 – pig、
鸟 – bird、
龟 – turtle、
门 – door、
犬 – dog、
子 – son、
女 – woman、
日 – sun、
山 – mountain、
水 – water、
月 – moon、
木 – wood、
林 – many trees、
森 – forest、
刀 – knife、
舟 – boat、
田 – field、
草（艸）- grass、
竹 – bamboo、
魚 – fish、
网 – net、
燕 – swallow、
云 – cloud、
雨 – rain、
伞 – umbrella、
石 – stone、
火 – fire、
叟 – old man、
弓 – bow、
舍 – house

Did you guess the meanings correctly? How about having a look at a good video made by Shanghai Animation Film – it shows the evolvement of these 36 commonly used Chinese pictogram characters.

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