move, motion, change, confusion
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.
二週間後に、ケンタの学校で運動会が開かれます。
Nishuukango ni, Kenta no gakkou de undoukai ga hiraremasu.
In two weeks, Kenta's school would hold its undoukai.
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.
でも、一週間ずっと動画を見てたんだ。
Demo, isshuukan zutto douga wo miteta nda.
But I watched videos all week.
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