横

橫
hèng
#1,328 most
frequent character
harsh and unreasonable, unexpected

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

横 héng uses 木 wood as the meaning part and 黄 huáng as a sound part. It first meant 'door bolt'. From there it grew to 'horizontal' and 'horizontal writing stroke'. Read hèng, 'haughty and domineering' was borrowed for its sound, then grew to 'unexpected'.

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