类

The Chinese character 类 (lèi) is composed of two parts: the radical 豸 (zhì), which means "beast", and the phonetic component 类 (lèi), which means "to classify". The character 类 originally meant "to classify animals", but it has since been extended to mean "to classify" in general.The radical 豸 is a pictograph of a deer. The character 类 is a phonetic loan character, meaning that it was borrowed from another character with the same pronunciation. In this case, the character 类 was borrowed from the character 类 (lèi), which means "to classify".The character 类 is first attested in the oracle bone script, which dates back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). In the oracle bone script, the character 类 is written as a deer with a classifier attached to its tail. This suggests that the character 类 was originally used to classify animals.Over time, the character 类 has been simplified and its meaning has been extended. Today, the character 类 is used to classify things in general. It can be used to classify objects, people, or ideas. For example, we can use the character 类 to classify animals into different species, or we can use it to classify people into different groups based on their age, gender, or occupation.The character 类 is a versatile character that can be used in a variety of contexts. It is an important character to learn for HSK learners, as it is used in many common words and phrases.