simplified Chinese: 木; pinyin: Mù

Tree

Similar to many characters in Chinese, the character for the word tree heavily resembles a growing tree with its roots coming out from the bottom.

As expressed in the picture above, when the single character is joined by two others, the word changes into the word “forest” which is interesting to note because it appears to look as if there are multiple trees clumped together, such as when in a forest. The word can also be related to words such as “wood” or “lumber”. In the Chinese language, this symbol may also sometime be used as an insult when people refer to someone having a, “木 brain” meaning that they are simple-minded because trees don’t tend to move. It is interesting to see the many interpretations of a single character when combined with other components and how it may change the meaning completely.