女孩 (nǚ hái) — girl

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

In 孩, the left part 子 shows a child, while the right part 亥 supplies the sound.