by means of, because, in view of, compared with
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.
かしこまりました。以上でよろしいですか？
Kashikomarimashita. Ijou de yoroshii desu ka?
Got it. Is that everything?
それ以来、彼は誰にも同じ思いをさせないようにしています。
Sore irai, kare wa dare ni mo onaji omoi o sasenai you ni shite imasu.
Ever since, he's made sure no one else goes through the same thing.
台風は今夜さらに強くなり、8時以降激しい雨が降るでしょう。
Taifuu wa kon'ya sara ni tsuyoku nari, hachiji ikou hageshii ame ga furu deshou.
The typhoon is expected to intensify tonight, with heavy rain starting after eight.
Readings and meanings: KANJIDIC2 · Decomposition: KRADFILE · Both from Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data from 2026-10-22 · Strokes: KanjiVG, Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0