Jisho

×

元

4 strokes
Radical:
legs 儿
Parts:
二 儿 元
beginning, former time, origin
Kun:
もと
On:
ゲン、 ガン
Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2
JLPT level N4
192 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Speed

Stroke order

On reading compounds

  • 元 【ゲン】 unknown (e.g. in an equation), element (of a set), yuan (monetary unit of China), New Taiwan dollar, Yuan dynasty (of China; 1271-1368), Yüan dynasty, Mongol dynasty
  • 原価 【ゲンカ】 cost price
  • 中元 【チュウゲン】 15th day of the 7th lunar month, (last day of) Bon lantern festival, mid-year gift, summer gift, Bon Festival gifts
  • 抗原 【コウゲン】 antigen
  • 元祖 【ガンソ】 originator, pioneer, inventor, founder, progenitor, primogenitor, founder of a family line
  • 元日 【ガンジツ】 New Year's Day

Kun reading compounds

  • 元 【もと】 origin, source, beginning, basis, base, foundation, root, cause, (raw) material, ingredient, base, mix (e.g. for a cake), (soup) stock, (one's) side, capital, principal, cost price, root (of a plant), (tree) trunk, part (of a brush, chopsticks, etc.) one holds (with the hand), first three lines of a waka, counter for plants or trees, counter for falcons (in falconry)
  • 元 【もと】 former, ex-, past, one-time, earlier times, the past, previous state, formerly, previously, originally, before
  • 家元 【いえもと】 head of a school (of music, dance), head family of a school
  • 胸元 【むなもと】 breast, chest, pit of the stomach, solar plexus, epigastrium

Readings

Japanese names:
ちか、 はじめ、 はる、 ゆき、 よし
Mandarin Chinese (pinyin):
yuan2
Korean:
weon

Spanish

  • comienzo
  • principio
  • origen
  • jefe

Portuguese

  • começo
  • tempo anterior
  • origem

French

  • commencement
  • origine
  • ancien temps
68 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese (Florence Sakade)
117 A Guide To Reading and Writing Japanese 3rd edition (Henshall, Seeley and De Groot)
106 A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters (Kenneth G. Henshall)
328 A New Dictionary of Kanji Usage
275 Classic Nelson (Andrew Nelson)
106 Essential Kanji (P.G. O’Neill)
121 Japanese Kanji Flashcards (Max Hodges and Tomoko Okazaki)
60 Japanese Names (P.G. O’Neill)
2.10 Japanese for Busy People
137 Kanji and Kana (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
137 Kanji and Kana, 2nd Edition (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
245 Kanji in Context (Nishiguchi and Kono)
141 Kodansha Compact Kanji Guide
2428 Kodansha Kanji Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1226 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1690 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Jack Halpern)
59 Les Kanjis dans la tete (Yves Maniette)
1340 Morohashi
1929 New Japanese English Character Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
343 New Nelson (John Haig)
59 Remembering The Kanji (James Heisig)
63 Remembering The Kanji, 6th edition (James Heisig)
408 The Kanji Way to Japanese Language Power (Dale Crowley)
89 Tuttle Kanji Cards (Alexander Kask)
3057 2001 Kanji
0a4.5 The Kanji Dictionary
2-1-3 SKIP code
1021.1 Four corner code
1-24-21 JIS X 0208-1997 kuten code
5143 Unicode hex code

亀

11 strokes
Radical:
second 乛 (乙, ⺄, 乚)
Parts:
乙 勹 田 亀
Variants:
龜
tortoise, turtle
Kun:
かめ
On:
キ、 キュウ、 キン
Jōyō kanji, taught in junior high
JLPT level N1
1353 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Speed

Stroke order

On reading compounds

  • 亀裂 【キレツ】 crack, crevice, fissure, chap, rift
  • 亀甲 【キッコウ】 tortoise shell
  • 霊亀 【レイキ】 mysterious turtle (an omen of good luck), Reiki era (715.9.2-717.11.17)
  • 宝亀 【ホウキ】 Hōki era (770.10.1-781.1.1)

Kun reading compounds

  • 亀 【かめ】 tortoise, turtle, heavy drinker, turtle crest, turtle mon
  • 亀綾 【かめあや】 high-quality glossy white habutai silk, raw silk twill fabric with fine diamond pattern
  • お亀 【おかめ】 homely woman (esp. one with a small low nose, high flat forehead, and bulging cheeks), plain woman, soba in soup with slices of boiled fish paste, shiitake mushrooms, greens, seaweed, etc.
  • 出歯亀 【でばかめ】 voyeur, Peeping Tom

Readings

Japanese names:
ひさ、 ひさし
Mandarin Chinese (pinyin):
gui1, jun1, qiu1
Korean:
gwi, gyun

Spanish

  • tortuga

Portuguese

French

  • tortue
1288 A New Dictionary of Kanji Usage
5445 Classic Nelson (Andrew Nelson)
1921 Essential Kanji (P.G. O’Neill)
1531 Japanese Names (P.G. O’Neill)
2284 Kanji and Kana (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
1889 Kanji and Kana, 2nd Edition (Spahn and Hadamitzky)
2637 Kodansha Kanji Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1346 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
1826 Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary, 2nd Edition (Jack Halpern)
540 Les Kanjis dans la tete (Yves Maniette)
210 Morohashi
2128 New Japanese English Character Dictionary (Jack Halpern)
62 New Nelson (John Haig)
534 Remembering The Kanji (James Heisig)
573 Remembering The Kanji, 6th edition (James Heisig)
2n9.1 The Kanji Dictionary
2-2-9 SKIP code
4-11-4 SKIP code
2771.6 Four corner code
1-21-21 JIS X 0208-1997 kuten code
4e80 Unicode hex code