根Rooted
Chinese characters are not random symbols — they are logical systems of meaning and sound.
Slide through 3,000 years of a single character and watch it evolve from an inscribed horse on ox bone into the three strokes you write today. (mǎ, horse)
c. 1200 BCE
Oracle Bone
Inscribed on turtle shells and ox scapulae. You can still see the horse's eye, mane, and four legs.
Traced · Hanziyuan ref j22174 · Wikimedia / PD ↗A standing horse — head, flowing mane, four legs, and a tail. The oracle-bone form shows the animal almost in silhouette; over 3,000 years it abstracted into the three strokes you write today.