direction, person, alternative
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.
部長には「美味しいです」の方がいいです。
Buchou ni wa "oishii desu" no hou ga ii desu.
With the boss, it's better to say "this is delicious."
あ、やっぱり両方頼んで、シェアする？
A, yappari ryouhou tanonde, shea suru?
Or maybe we should get both and share?
そうして、ルーカスさんは仕方なく、病院に向かいました。
Soushite, Rūkasu-san wa shikatanaku, byouin ni mukaimashita.
And that's how Lucas, with no other choice, headed straight to the hospital.
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