少林寺
Shào lín Sì · HSK 7
temple
🥋🛕 少林寺 = Shaolin (少林, young-forest) + 寺 temple; home of kung-fu monks
少 shào = young/few, 林 lín = forest, 寺 sì = temple. The first two characters spell Shaolin, the monastery name; the third marks it as a Buddhist temple. Sounds like SHOW-lin-sir.
少 — 小 (small) + 丿 (slash stroke)
Originally a pictograph showing four small dots or grains, suggesting 'few' or 'small in quantity'. Over time it became distinguished from 小 (small) by adding a downward stroke. The core meaning shifted toward 'few' or 'little in number', while 小 kept the sense of physical smallness.
寺 — earth 土 on top + inch 寸 below
Originally depicted a hand (寸) working at a place, denoting a court or government office in early Chinese. After Buddhism arrived in the Han dynasty, 寺 was reassigned to mean 'Buddhist temple' because foreign monks were first housed in such official buildings. The older 'office' sense survives in compounds like 太常寺.