Now Playing Tracks

kanji-a-day: 456/2000 JLPT: N3 School Grade: 4th (9 years old) The origins of this character are actually pretty obscure. There are a number of different theories, but according to some scholars, an older form seems to be a combination of the prototype of 㤅, a now defunct character meaning “a charitable feeling (of wishing to give food)” and hence “kindness/warm feelings,” and an element (now written as 夂 the winter radical) that is thought to have been used in the sense of “move hestitantly.” 㤅 itself is a combination of 旡 satiated person and 心 heart/feelings, so the “warm kind feelings” contained in 㤅 have prevailed and replaced the original meaning of the character, which was probably something more along the lines of “move forward hesitantly and furtively.”
Zoom
kanji-a-day: 456/2000 JLPT: N3 School Grade: 4th (9 years old) The origins of this character are actually pretty obscure. There are a number of different theories, but according to some scholars, an older form seems to be a combination of the prototype of 㤅, a now defunct character meaning “a charitable feeling (of wishing to give food)” and hence “kindness/warm feelings,” and an element (now written as 夂 the winter radical) that is thought to have been used in the sense of “move hestitantly.” 㤅 itself is a combination of 旡 satiated person and 心 heart/feelings, so the “warm kind feelings” contained in 㤅 have prevailed and replaced the original meaning of the character, which was probably something more along the lines of “move forward hesitantly and furtively.”
Zoom

kanji-a-day:

456/2000

JLPT: N3

School Grade: 4th (9 years old)

The origins of this character are actually pretty obscure. There are a number of different theories, but according to some scholars, an older form seems to be a combination of the prototype of 㤅, a now defunct character meaning “a charitable feeling (of wishing to give food)” and hence “kindness/warm feelings,” and an element (now written as 夂 the winter radical) that is thought to have been used in the sense of “move hestitantly.” 㤅 itself is a combination of 旡 satiated person and 心 heart/feelings, so the “warm kind feelings” contained in 㤅 have prevailed and replaced the original meaning of the character, which was probably something more along the lines of “move forward hesitantly and furtively.”

kanji-a-day: 454/2000 JLPT: N1 School Grade: 5th (10 years old) This character is a combination of a character used only in Chinese meaning “base/starting point” and 攵 the strike radical. Here 攵 means “attack/fight” while the other element acts phonetically to express “equivalence” as well as connotations of “appropriate.” This gives “fight with someone appropriately matched,” which in turn gives “enemy.”
Zoom
kanji-a-day: 454/2000 JLPT: N1 School Grade: 5th (10 years old) This character is a combination of a character used only in Chinese meaning “base/starting point” and 攵 the strike radical. Here 攵 means “attack/fight” while the other element acts phonetically to express “equivalence” as well as connotations of “appropriate.” This gives “fight with someone appropriately matched,” which in turn gives “enemy.”
Zoom

kanji-a-day:

454/2000

JLPT: N1

School Grade: 5th (10 years old)

This character is a combination of a character used only in Chinese meaning “base/starting point” and 攵 the strike radical. Here 攵 means “attack/fight” while the other element acts phonetically to express “equivalence” as well as connotations of “appropriate.” This gives “fight with someone appropriately matched,” which in turn gives “enemy.”

kanji-a-day: 448/2000 JLPT: N4 School Grade: 3rd (8 years old) This character developed from the image of an arrow (矢) under a streaming banner tied to a pole. Many believe that this was an indication of a rallying of arms under a banner, giving the idea of “people forming a group,” which eventually lead to “family.” In its current form, the left side can be taken as 方 side, and the element above 矢 can be taken as 人 person.
Zoom
kanji-a-day: 448/2000 JLPT: N4 School Grade: 3rd (8 years old) This character developed from the image of an arrow (矢) under a streaming banner tied to a pole. Many believe that this was an indication of a rallying of arms under a banner, giving the idea of “people forming a group,” which eventually lead to “family.” In its current form, the left side can be taken as 方 side, and the element above 矢 can be taken as 人 person.
Zoom

kanji-a-day:

448/2000

JLPT: N4

School Grade: 3rd (8 years old)

This character developed from the image of an arrow (矢) under a streaming banner tied to a pole. Many believe that this was an indication of a rallying of arms under a banner, giving the idea of “people forming a group,” which eventually lead to “family.” In its current form, the left side can be taken as 方 side, and the element above 矢 can be taken as 人 person.

kanji-a-day: 447/2000 JLPT: N3 School Grade: 5th (10 years old) This character is a combination of 行 go (which also lends its literal connotations of “roads”) and 朮 an element meaning “adhere.” Here 朮 is acting phonetically to express “twisting” as well as its meaning of “adhere,” which gives “twisting road to which one adheres.” This is a reference to the “means” you follow to achieve your goal.
Zoom
kanji-a-day: 447/2000 JLPT: N3 School Grade: 5th (10 years old) This character is a combination of 行 go (which also lends its literal connotations of “roads”) and 朮 an element meaning “adhere.” Here 朮 is acting phonetically to express “twisting” as well as its meaning of “adhere,” which gives “twisting road to which one adheres.” This is a reference to the “means” you follow to achieve your goal.
Zoom

kanji-a-day:

447/2000

JLPT: N3

School Grade: 5th (10 years old)

This character is a combination of 行 go (which also lends its literal connotations of “roads”) and 朮 an element meaning “adhere.” Here 朮 is acting phonetically to express “twisting” as well as its meaning of “adhere,” which gives “twisting road to which one adheres.” This is a reference to the “means” you follow to achieve your goal.

To Tumblr, Love Pixel Union