But it really means a lot more.
Most Chinese characters are combinations of other characters or parts of characters.
Sometimes a character seems to have little to do with the sum of its parts, possibly because the original associations have been forgotten over the centuries. But many characters contain a great deal of abbreviated symbolism, or layers of meaning. This is particularly true of complex characters. The distinctive element is the horizontal line at the top, which represents the heavens or a horizon line. Notice the horizontal sky line at the top.