vis-a-vis, opposite, even, equal
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.
ラファエルは誰に対してもそうでした。
Rafaeru wa dare ni taishite mo sou deshita.
Rafael was like that with everyone.
その頃、町の反対側では、ルーカスの携帯でもアラームが鳴りました。
Sono koro, machi no hantaigawa de wa, Rūkasu no keitai demo araamu ga narimashita.
Meanwhile, across town, the alarm also went off on Lucas's phone.
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