物种 (wù zhǒng)

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".

• 种 (zhǒng) · 9 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 禾 represents the meaning and 中 represents the sound. Simplified form of 種.