Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 十 (ten) is one of the oldest and most stable Chinese characters. Its earliest forms in Oracle Bone Script (c. 1600–1100 BCE) were a simple vertical line, sometimes with a knot or bulge in the middle, representing the number ten—the completion of a counting cycle on two hands. By the time of Seal Script, it had standardized into the familiar cross shape we know today, symbolizing the intersection of all directions or the completeness of a unit. Its core meaning of 'ten' and 'complete' has remained unchanged for millennia. Arrived in Japan: The character 十, along with the Chinese writing system, is believed to have arrived in Japan around the 5th century CE, likely via the Korean peninsula. It was part of the initial wave of kanji adopted for writing and was integrated into the Japanese number system.