古 is a compound ideograph. 古 = 十 + 口. 十 means countless in ancient Chinese; 口 is a mouth. 古 depicts that ancient stories were told by countless people and passed down through generations, so the original meaning of 古 is “ancient/old”.
若 a woman tidying her hair
若 is a pictographic character. The oracle bone script 
depicts a woman tidying her hair with both hands, indicating that a woman is meek and obedient. Continue reading “若 a woman tidying her hair”
几 a long narrow table
几, a pictographic character of a long narrow table, serves as a semantic as well as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “几 a long narrow table”
丩 tangled rope
丩, cognate of 纠, a pictographic character of a tangled rope, serves as a phonetic component to form characters. Continue reading “丩 tangled rope”
凵 a pit in the ground
凵, cognate of 坎, is a pictographic character. 凵 serves as a semantic component to form characters which express meanings related to “hollow, sunken, depressed, sunk, etc” such as bowl, trap, groove, ridge, pit, etc. Continue reading “凵 a pit in the ground”