The Chinese characters 兵 meaning is soldier; army.
兵 is represented by two hands brandishing a battle-axe - symbol of the soldier. Lamenting the necessity of maintaining an army in a belligerent world, one proverb concludes: “Feed soldiers for a thousand days, to be used for one day.”

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The Chinese characters 匠 meaning is artisan; craftsman.
An artisan: 匠 is represented by his tool: 斤 (an axe) and his work, a hollowed-out log, vessel or box). The craftsman’s dependence upon his tools prompts the saying: “The workman who would do his work well should first sharpen his tools.”

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The Chinese characters 所 meaning is place.
所 is a juxtaposition of 户 (door) and 斤 (axe), and refers to the place where fuel is prepared. In olden times, the chopping of firewood with the axe was done near the door or house. Hence: 所 (axe beside house) meaning place or location.

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The Chinese characters 房 meaning is room; house.
房 combines 户 (door) with 方 (square). It indicates something squarish (方) with a door (户), i.e., a house or a room. Viewing house and room squarely, one proverb draws the conclusion: “Even though your dwelling contains a thousand rooms, you can use but eight feet of space [...]

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The Chinese characters 方 meaning is square.
The original version was a graphic representation of two boats lashed together to form a square barge. Finally modified to 方, it widened its scope to mean also region, direction and even upright, or puritanical.

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The Chinese characters 钉 meaning is nail.
Originally, this Chinese character was a pictograph of a nail: 丁. Clarified with the metal radical (金), it is now simplified to 钉. 丁 itself now stands for a strong male adult or soldier for, in a sense, nails are soldiers - strong, useful but never really valued. Hence [...]

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The Chinese characters 针 meaning is needle.
The original form of this Chinese character comprises 金 (metal) and 咸 (bite). The needle takes up, as it were, mouthfuls of cloth, biting its way along. The regular form it has a good point, with the substitute phonetic 十 resembling a threaded needle - warning us never to [...]

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The Chinese characters 钱 meaning is money.
Two spears (戈) breaking gold (金) into pieces means “money”: 钱. And money, taking on the vicious character of spears, means power. So, when money talks, man listens in silence and whispers: “If you are rich, you speak the truth; if you are poor, your words are but lies.”

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The Chinese characters 银 meaning is silver.
Silver is produced by consolidating 金 (gold) with 艮 (hard): 银. 艮, originally the eye (目) turned suddenly around to look a man full in the face defiantly, means “obstinate”. Compared with gold, silver is a hard metal, more precious than common copper. Hence the saying: “Even he who [...]

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The Chinese characters 金 meaning is gold; metal.
The regular form reveals two nuggets: 金. In the simplified radical form, even these two remaining nuggets are missing: 钅. However, the proverb reassures us: “True gold fears no fire.” Only thieves!

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