



Pictograms represent just one relatively minor type of character out of a total of six different types.Ĭategorizing Chinese characters: Six typesĬhinese characters are split into six different categories referred to as 六书 (liùshū). In actuality, the formation of characters is incredibly complex. Although pictograms are fun and beginner-friendly, they only make up about 4% of all Chinese characters. Introducing Chinese characters to beginners simply as pictograms is misleading, however. This understanding of the language is sometimes used as a way to “sell” Chinese to new learners. It’s common to see characters such as 木 (mù wood or “tree”) and 山 (shān mountain) used as examples to show the “easy” nature of Chinese character composition. There is a widespread misconception that all Chinese characters are pictograms (also called "pictographs"), meaning that all characters look like the word or meaning that they are used to represent. Chinese characters can seem mysterious to the uninitiated.
