idea, thought, conception, think
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.
大抵の人は、カウンターの向こうにいる無愛想な老人しか見ていませんでした。
Taitei no hito wa, kauntaa no mukou ni iru buaisou na roujin shika mite imasen deshita.
Most people just saw a grumpy old man behind the counter.
こうして、怖い夜は、もっと美味しい月曜日の朝に変わりました——そして、誰も予想しなかったサトウの一面を見せたのでした。
Koushite, kowai yoru wa, motto oishii getsuyoubi no asa ni kawarimashita — soshite, dare mo yosou shinakatta Satou no ichimen wo miseta no deshita.
And that's how a scary night turned into a much sweeter Monday morning — and revealed a side of Sato nobody expected.
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