化
huà · HSK 3
melt
🧊💧 化 = 亻(person) + 匕 (reversed person) — transformation, one form into another
The two halves show a person upright and a person inverted, the classic oracle-bone sign for change. From 'transform' it extends to melting, dissolving, and digesting — all cases of one state becoming another.
化 — person 亻 + spoon/upside-down person 匕
化 is an associative compound showing a standing person 亻 next to 匕, originally a depiction of a person turned upside-down. Together they suggest a figure transforming from one state to another, giving the core meaning 'change' or 'transform'. The character later extended to senses like 'convert', 'influence', and the noun suffix '-ization'.