HSK 3.0 · LEVEL 1
的
Possessive particle / adjectival marker (equivalent to 's or used to link adjectives to nouns)
Free Chinese vocabulary flashcard · HSK 1
Why does 的 look like this?
The character combines 白 (bái, white) on the left and 勺 (sháo, ladle) on the right. Originally, it represented the bright bullseye of a target, but over time it became the most common grammatical marker in Chinese! Think of it as a little pointer or glue that connects things.