Several parts combine into one character.

Etymology of 六 is uncertain — competing theories include a small dwelling viewed from the side, or a hand showing six fingers (thumb extended at angle). What is clear: by oracle bone times the character was already a phonetic loan, not a counting picture. Identical across 繁體 / 新字体 / 简体.

Cultural note — the lucky number. In Mandarin, 六 (liù) sounds nearly identical to 流 (liú, "to flow"), and the phrase 六六大顺 (liù liù dà shùn) means "everything flows smoothly". So 6 is considered very lucky in Chinese-speaking cultures — the opposite of 4. Phone numbers, license plates, and addresses ending in 6 carry premium prices. Six and 8 (also lucky) often appear in business naming.

Mandarin: liù, falling 4th tone. 六月 (liùyuè, June), 六十 (liùshí, sixty), 星期六 (xīngqīliù, Saturday — "sixth day of the week"). The Mandarin number-week system runs Mon=1 through Sat=6, with Sunday using 日 (rì) instead of "7" — a learner trap.

Japanese: on-reading ロク (roku) for everyday counting — 六月 (rokugatsu, June), 六時 (rokuji, six o'clock). Watch out — when counting people, 六人 reads ろくにん (rokunin), but for ordinal day-of-month, 六日 reads むいか (muika, sixth day) — irregular kun-form.

Kun-reading む (mu) shows up in 六つ (muttsu, six items) and the irregular dates above. Like 4, the kun-readings of low numbers are essential for fluency.

Financial form: 陸 prevents alteration. Note: this same character means "land" in normal use — the financial form is a homograph.

Memory aid: a roof with two legs underneath. Hard to mnemonic — most learners just memorize the shape.