必不可少 (bì bù kě shǎo)

Character breakdown

• 必 (bì) · 5 strokes

  Pictograph of a weapon handle, now written as 柲. 八 was later added as a decorative mark. Similar to 戈 but without the blade. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

• 可 (kě) · 5 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and the right component, which is a pictograph of an axe handle (now written as 柯), represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "sing", now wri…

• 少 (shǎo) · 4 strokes

  Depicts four dots, representing the meaning "few". Originally the same character as 小. The small dots possibly represent grains of sand (沙).