winter
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.
冬は、いつも厚いコートを着ます。
Fuyu wa, itsumo atsui kooto o kimasu.
In winter, I always wear a thick coat.
十月の初め——「衣替え」の季節です。日本が夏服から冬服に切り替える時期のことです。
Juugatsu no hajime -- "koromogae" no kisetsu desu. Nihon ga natsufuku kara fuyufuku ni kirikaeru jiki no koto desu.
Early October -- the season of "koromogae," when Japan swaps summer clothes for winter ones.
ルーカスは自分なりの衣替えをしようと、クローゼットの奥から冬物の箱を取り出しました。
Ruukasu wa jibun nari no koromogae wo shiyou to, kuroozetto no oku kara fuyumono no hako wo toridashimashita.
Lucas pulled his winter clothes box out from the back of the closet, to do his own version of the seasonal swap.
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