Amazing Chinese Characters (269) Residence - 宅

The shell bone script of character Residence is

 outside is a house, inside is the pillar.

The bronze script of character Residence is

The outside is similar to the shell bone script, but the pillar inside is not straight, the reason is unknown.

The small seal script of character Residence is

similar to old scripts.

The clerical script of the character is

The top is the roof, and the bottom is supporter even though it is bent too much, which may be due to clerical script emphasizing the big wave stroke in the bottom.

The Song typeface is

宅

Its Pinyin is Zhai2.

宅 is decent, big, independent house, normally with solid and high fence. There is another character 房, which means House. House may be big or small, single house or apartment in a building. In China, 宅 is most old residence, not many left. Most people are living in house (房).

Amazing Chinese Characters (268) Spring - 泉

The shell bone script of character Spring is

Which is a cave where spring water flows out. The T means the water flow, and the dots mean the water drops.

The big seal script of the character Spring is

which is same as the shell bone script above, a cave with the spring water flowing out.

The small seal script of the character is

which is simplified, only major water flow, no water drops.

The clerical script of the character is

The top is 白 - White, the bottom is 水 - Water. White Water is Spring, the spring produces water splash which is white.  The character is changed from pictography to ideogram.

The song typeface of the character is

泉

Same as clerical script.

Its Pinyin is Quan2.

Amazing Chinese Characters (267) Salt - 盐（鹽）

The bronze script of character Salt is

The top left is Water, the top right is crystalline salt, the bottom is basin or field fenced up.

Ancient Chinese made salt by evaporating seawater (see the picture above), people still use the method to make salt nowadays.

The big seal script of character Salt is

The left is changed from Water to a big eye, which means a monitor, or official who is watching the crystallization of the salt. The top right is a person who is working, and the bottom is the crystallized salt.

The small seal script of the character is

Similar to big seal script but more smooth and symmetrical.

The clerical script of the character is

It is changed a lot, but we can still see the similarity.

The traditional song typeface of the character is

鹽

Same as the clerical script.

The simplified song typeface of the character is

盐

The top is totally changed, no any similarity to the old scripts. 

The pinyin of 盐 is Yan2.