Hieroglyph?

Almost all Chinese learner think it is difficult to learn Chinese character. However, many Chinese characters represent particular images in real world originally. We may say these characters are Hieroglyph.

火

For example,

日

山

月

水

 Character 日 means "the sun". It described the sun when it was created in ancient time. And it still remains its original meaning nowadays.

So do 山, 月, 水, and 火. They are Hieroglyph as well.

Some of you may notice these characters are basic element of human life. Actually, we call them basic words which are created earlier than others because the objects they represent are closely related to our ancestors' life. In other word, they are more important that people use they more frequently. So they usually remain their original meanings while some phonogram character lose, such as 字.

Here is an awesome website I recommend for Chinese learners even for native speakers: www.zdic.net

You can looking up all Chinese characters here including their modern meanings and ancient meanings as well. Of course, you can realize how characters develop in different times.

I will share some knowledge about Chinese learning here occasionally. Feel free to write down your comment or question here.