The character 石 (shí): stone

A pale grey rock face fills the upper half of the picture. Below it round boulders in grey and beige pile up, growing smaller toward the front, and the clear water of a river laps in at the very bottom. Against the rock stands the character 石 in dark brown: a horizontal bar at the top, a stroke slanting down to the left, and a small empty square tucked under the right part of the bar.

Pronunciation: shí
Strokes: 5
Radical: 石

What it means

rock; stone; stone inscription; one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]

Where its shape comes from

Xu Shen takes it apart in two. The stroke at the top and the slant below it are the overhang of a cliff, the element written 厂; the small box underneath is the stone itself, which he gives explicitly as a picture. A pictogram, then, but one sheltered under its own rock face.

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

A way to remember it

A lean-to roof, and a pebble beneath it. The box does not sit just anywhere: it belongs under the RIGHT half of the roof, to the right of the slanting stroke, never in the middle.

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

Words it appears in

石头 shí tou · HSK 5 stone; CL:塊|块[kuai4]
石油 shí yóu · HSK 6 oil; petroleum
钻石 zuàn shí · HSK 6 diamond; CL:顆|颗[ke1]
岩石 yán shí · HSK 6 rock
化石 huà shí · HSK 6 fossil
石家庄 shí jiā zhuāng see 石家莊市|石家庄市[Shi2jia1zhuang1 Shi4]

Writing it

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