shí

real

Original meaning: 

rich; plentiful

Depicts a string of money () under a roof (). Based on the original meaning "rich; plentiful". The meaning later expanded to "solid", "fruit", and "true".

Components
宀 meaning component

  Meaning component

mián

  

roof

貫 meaning component

  Meaning component

guàn

  

a string of 1000 coins

Evolution

實 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
實 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
實 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
實 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

shí

real, true, solid, honest; real; true; honest; really; solid; fruit; seed; definitely

Most common words with 實
Freq.
Word
Meaning

其实

actually

确实

indeed

实现

to achieve

事实

fact

事实上

in fact