Traditional characters 8

愛 ài: to love, love.

Stroke order:

Components: 爫 zhǎo claw, grasping hand (top); 冖 mì lid; 心 xīn heart; 夊 suī foot walking slowly (bottom).

Etymology: 愛 represents a hand 爫 that reaches to grasp a heart 心 protected under a lid 冖, the whole carried by hesitant steps 夊 moving toward the other person. The original idea is that of a precious feeling one protects and offers while walking toward the loved one. The simplified form 爱 replaced 心 + 夊 with 友 (friend), hence the popular pun: "simplified love is love without a heart."

歡 huān: joy, gladness (in 喜歡 xǐhuān "to like, to enjoy").

Stroke order:

Components: 雚 guàn heron, stork (left, phonetic element); 欠 qiàn wide-open mouth (right).

Etymology: 歡 is a phono-semantic compound. 雚 guàn (heron) provides the pronunciation, and 欠 qiàn represents a person whose mouth is wide open. The character evokes the vocal expression of joy: shouting, laughing with happiness. By extension, 歡 means "joyful, happy." Combined with 喜 xǐ, it forms 喜歡 xǐhuān "to like, to enjoy."

貓 māo: cat.

Stroke order:

Components: 豸 zhì radical of the long-bodied wild animal, used for felines (left); 苗 miáo sprout, young plant (right, phonetic element).

Etymology: 貓 is a phono-semantic compound. The radical 豸 indicates a long-bodied animal (used for felines, panthers, etc.), and 苗 miáo provides the pronunciation while evoking the cat's meow. In the simplified form 猫, the radical 豸 was replaced by 犭 (variant of 犬 "dog").

隻 zhī: classifier for small animals (cats, dogs, birds…); zhǐ: only.

Stroke order:

Components: 隹 zhuī short-tailed bird (top); 又 yòu right hand (bottom).

Etymology: 隻 is an ideogram representing a hand 又 holding a bird 隹 that has been caught. Originally, it referred to the act of catching a single bird (as opposed to 雙 shuāng "two birds," which shows two 隹). By extension, 隻 became the classifier for animals counted individually (a cat, a dog, a bird…). The derived meaning zhǐ "only" is written in simplified form as 只.

Character evolution:

Oracle bone	Bronze	Seal script	Regular script	Simplified
			隻	只

點 diǎn: dot, a little; o'clock (一點 yì diǎn = one o'clock).

Stroke order:

Components: 黑 hēi black (left); 占 zhàn to occupy (right, phonetic element).

Etymology: 點 is a phono-semantic compound. The radical 黑 hēi (black) indicates the original meaning: a small black mark, a dot. 占 zhàn provides the pronunciation. By extension, 點 refers to the dot, the mark, but also "a little" and the full hour: 一點 yì diǎn "one o'clock."