Chinese words can trace their origins to more than five thousand years ago. The archaeologists and linguists found their clues of the ancient writings from the Oracle Bones or Turtle Shells. 

The "words" were mostly "pictographs", meaning that the ancient people "drew" pictures to represent objects, actions, or ideas. 

The following are some examples of how some current Chinese Characters evolved through the first few thousand years. The character for PERSON was originally a drawing of the profile of a person.  
The character for FIRE was a pictorial representation of a flame.  
Similarly, the character for BURN is a picture of something (in this case, bundles of wood) being "burned" by fire.  
 
Can you figure out what the picture for the character EMPEROR was supposed to be and the one for DOOR? 
  
 

Click here for answers.... 

Two more examples for your enjoyment:  
  
 
Click here for other variants of BIRD (ancient form.)  

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