counter for bows & stringed instruments, stretch, spread, put up (tent)
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.
実は、ゆきさんはルーカスがどれだけ日本語を頑張っているか、よく知っていました。
Jitsu wa, Yuki-san wa Rūkasu ga dore dake nihongo o ganbatte iru ka, yoku shitte imashita.
Actually, Yuki knew how hard Lucas had been working to practice Japanese.
ルーカスさんは緊張しながら座り、待合室の他の人たちを見ていました。
Rūkasu-san wa kinchou shinagara suwari, machiaishitsu no hoka no hitotachi o mite imashita.
Lucas sat down, nervous, watching the other people in the waiting room.
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