The character 森 (sēn): forest

A very pale conifer forest drowned in mist, shafts of light falling through the trunks and a bright clearing in the foreground. In front of it, at the centre, the character 森 in near black: one tree block above, two more side by side below it, their long strokes sweeping out to left and right. The character is the only dark thing in the picture, its edges crisp against the washed out green and cream of the wood.

Pronunciation: sēn
Strokes: 12
Radical: 木
Made of: 木木木

What it means

(bound form) densely wooded; (fig.) (bound form) multitudinous; gloomy; forbidding

Where its shape comes from

Three trees, and the device is nothing special to this character: in Chinese writing, an element repeated three times says a large number. The same thing happens in 众 (zhòng), a crowd, which is three times 人. Xu Shen glosses the word as the look of many trees together.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database.

A way to remember it

One tree is 木. Put three of them together, one on top and two below, and there is no finding your way out again. Keep the top one centred, and let the two underneath sit a little lower and closer in.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

森林 sēn lín · HSK 4 forest; CL:片[pian4]
阴森 yīn sēn gloomy; sinister; eerie
帕金森 pà jīn sēn Parkinson (name)
森森 sēn sēn dense (of trees); thick; ghastly; eerie
弗格森 fú gé sēn Ferguson (surname)
森严 sēn yán strict; rigid; tight (security)

Writing it

See the stroke order of 森, animated stroke by stroke.