了

瞭
liào
#5 most
frequent character
unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4]

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

了 is a picture of a child without arms, and that was its first meaning. Read le, the senses 'to finish' and the aspect particle came by sound loan and later growth. Read liǎo, it is a shortened form of 瞭, meaning clear-eyed, and then 'to understand'.

Drawn as: child without arms

了 as a component in other characters

sound3 characters
疗辽钌

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