出 | chū

In Mandarin Chinese, 出 (Pinyin: chū 🔊) is a verb meaning “to go out”, “to leave”, “to exit” etc.

出 looks like two 山 characters piled on top of each other, but in fact its origin has nothing to do with mountains. Many historical forms of this character, especially oracle bone script, show a footprint going out of some sort of enclosure: a room, a house, a city — anything with walls. On some of the oracle bone characters, the “enclosure” part even looks like an archaic form of 口 (that kind of toothy smile). Ponte Ryūrui mentions (and rejects) an alternative theory, where 出 is “based on an image of rapidly growing grass”.

Combining 出 with 口, we get 出口 (chūkǒu 🔊) that means “exit” or “way out” — a useful word to recognise, for example if you drive.

More photos of sea glass @ Shutterstock.