了

瞭
liǎo
#5 most
frequent character
(of eyes) bright, clear-sighted

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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Same Characters, Different Readings

了liǎo
to finish, to achieve
了liào
unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4]
HSK 1
了le
(modal particle intensifying preceding clause)

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