一
yī · HSK 1
one
☝️ 一 is a single horizontal stroke — the simplest character, meaning one
The character 一 is just one line. In ancient oracle bone script it was already a single horizontal mark, used as a tally for the number one. The shape itself encodes the meaning: one stroke = one.
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'