示
shì
#425 most
frequent character
to show, to reveal
Character breakdown
Source: Make Me a Hanzi.
示 began as a drawing of a tablet used to honor the dead, so it first meant 'ancestral tablet'. From there it grew to mean an omen, and later the everyday sense 'to show, indicate'. On the left side of other characters it appears as 礻.
Drawn as: ancestral worship tablet
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