子 Radical 39 — child; son; offspring

Where the shape comes from

A baby drawn with an outsized head on top, the single horizontal stroke for the outstretched arms, and the body wrapped below so that the legs do not show — a swaddled infant. It appears in 学, 字, 孩 and in the noun suffix 子 of 桌子, 椅子.

characters filed under 子

• 子zǐ (third tone, dipping) zi (neutral tone)child, son; a seed; (unstressed, zi) the noun suffix of 桌子, 儿子, 孩子3
• 字zì (fourth tone, falling)a written character; a word in writing; handwriting; a courtesy name6
• 学/學xué (second tone, rising)to study, to learn; learning, a field of study; school (in 学校)8