How it changed
The story you’ll hear
Modern form looks like bamboo (竹) + die young (夭) — “laughing yourself to death.” But the original character was actually teeth (齒) + dog (犬): a dog baring its teeth. Scribes kept miscopying it over centuries until we got the accidental masterpiece we have today. A Tang dynasty scholar later reinterpreted it as “bamboo swaying in the wind looks like someone laughing” — and the poet Su Shi coined 竹笑 for bamboo dancing in a breeze.
What the old dictionaries say
Still debatedPlot twist: nobody knows. The oldest dictionary text reads bamboo (竹) plus dog (犬), then admits the entry was missing and never explains the dog. A Tang-era edition had 夭 instead. The editor's verdict a thousand years ago: 未知其審, "we can't tell which is right."
What it’s made of
See it in a story
Related characters
Read characters like this in real stories
Every one has word-level pinyin, narrated audio and tap-to-define.
HSK 1The Tea Is Too Hot
A girl serves tea to her visiting Chinese teacher, but it’s too hot to drink.
3 chapters · audio + pinyin
HSK 2The Book We Both Wanted
Two customers claim one childhood book; a shopkeeper gives them until six to explain why.
4 chapters · audio + pinyin
HSK 3No Seat in the Library
A student resents a classmate saving seats, then learns his roommate is hospitalized.
6 chapters · audio + pinyin
HSK 4Sunrise on Huangshan
Four friends' Huangshan sunrise trip hits train delays, a storm, and a bad booking.
6 chapters · audio + pinyin
HSK 5Dumplings or Tangyuan
A young wife's first solstice turns tense when her mother-in-law hides the tangyuan flour.
6 chapters · audio + pinyin
HSK 6The Kitchen Behind the App
An inspector traces illness complaints to twelve delivery restaurants sharing four kitchens.
6 chapters · audio + pinyin