飞机 (fēi jī) — airplane

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 飛; 飞 is its simplified writing.

For 飞, the traditional form 飛 pictures a bird flying upwards.

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

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.