什

shén
#156 most
frequent character
what

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

什 joins 亻 person with 十 ten, and first meant a unit of ten soldiers. From that it grew to 'ten' and 'many'. Read shén, it means 'what'; that sense was borrowed for the sound alone.

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Same Characters, Different Readings

什shí
assorted, miscellaneous

Homophones

神shén
god, deity, divinity, spirit

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