物理 (wù lǐ)

Character breakdown

• 物 (wù) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".

• 理 (lǐ) · 11 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 𤣩 represents the meaning and 里 represents the sound.