素

sù
#660 most
frequent character
raw silk, white, plain, unadorned

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

素 pictures silk threads hanging from a frame, the way raw silk was hung to bleach. So it first meant white, untreated silk. That grew to plain and simple, then sincere, and finally to vegetarian food and plain vegetables.

Drawn as: frame with hanging silk

素 as a component in other characters

sound1 character
picture1 character

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