花 huā

“huā” means flower or to spend. It is a picot-phonetic character. The top part of the word means a plant and the lower part of the word is the sound element.

Huā duǒ: flower

Huā yuán: garden

Huā qián: spending money

羊 yáng

“yáng” means sheep or goat. It is a pictographic character. It shows the horns, ears and legs of a goat.

馬 mǎ

“mǎ” means horse. It is a pictographic character. The top part of the word shows the horse’s mane and head. The lower part of the word shows the horse’s four legs and tail.

Mǎ lú: horse

下 Xià

“Xià” means “down, below or falling”. It is a symbolic character. It indicates below the line.

Lóu Xià: downstairs

Xià yǔ: raining

上   shàng

“shàng” means “up, above or go.” It is a symbolic character. It indicates above the line.

Lóu shàng: upstairs

Shàng Xüé: go to school

狗 Gǒu

“Gǒu” means dog. It is a picot-phonetic character. The left part of the character means canines and the right part of it is the sound element. 

Xiǎo gǒu: puppy

水  shǔi

“shǔi” means water and is a pictographic character. Originally, it meant the river current.

Shǔi guǒ: fruit