类
lèi · HSK 3
kind
🐕 类 = 米 (rice) + 大 (big) — sorting big piles of rice into kinds
Classifier for categories or kinds. The old form 類 paired 米 (rice grains) with 犬 (dog) and 頁 (head), hinting at sorting like grains into types. Sounds like English 'lay' with a falling tone.
类 — rice 米 + big 大 + dog 犬
类 (traditional 類) originally combined 米 (rice/grains) with 犬 (dog), suggesting things grouped by similarity, possibly from sorting grains or comparing dogs of a kind. Over time it came to mean 'kind, type, category.' The simplified form keeps 米 over 大, dropping the dog.