Would it be accurate to say that kanji is like a puzzle? ・・i'm not sure who taught you that. however, i think it is very interesting question or opinion. i was impressed with the view. :) Different characters coming together to create one word? ・・surely,most of kanji is gathered with some different kanji(characters). then it creats one word(Kanji). the structure is like as follows. e.g. 森（もり/forest)・・is gathered by 3 trees. 林（はやし/forest)・・is made by 2 trees. 木（き/tree,wood)・・is made by 1 tree. 親（おや/parent)・・（立つ/stand)+(木/tree,wood)+（見る/see,look,watch) many Kanji was converted from hieroglyphics. it is characterized. in addition,about idiom(jyuku go/熟語/じゅくご）.熟語 it is a combination of Kanji and Kanji. those combination has a meaning of opposite,meaning of same in 熟語 either. e.g. 強弱（きょうじゃく・kyou jyaku) = strong+weak 道路（どうろ・dou ro)=road+road it seems to be puzzle..have a fun to learn Kanji and Japanese! :)