lord, chief, master, main thing
Came from Chinese. It usually shows up when the kanji is joined to another, forming a compound word.
It is Japanese. It usually shows up when the kanji stands alone or is followed by hiragana.
The order matters: it is what makes handwriting come out legible, and it is how dictionaries index the character.
Visual decomposition, for recognising and comparing — not always the character's origin.
Where it appears is highlighted — the translation doesn't always make that visible.
店主は無駄口をきかず、素早く手を動かしていました。
Tenshu wa mudaguchi o kikazu, subayaku te o ugokashite imashita.
The owner worked fast, without saying a word more than necessary.
お気に入りのドラマの主題歌を——ドラマチックなポーズ付きで。
Oki ni iri no dorama no shudaika o—— doramachikku na poozu-tsuki de.
The theme song of his favorite soap opera — complete with a dramatic pose.
Readings and meanings: KANJIDIC2 · Decomposition: KRADFILE · Both from Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data from 2026-09-07 · Strokes: KanjiVG, Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0