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.
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