decide, fix, agree upon, appoint
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.
決めるのか、俺が決めるのか
Kimeru no ka, ore ga kimeru no ka?
Are you two deciding, or am I deciding for you?
結局、バランスとは、決して悪い物を食べないことじゃない。
Kekkyoku, baransu to wa, kesshite warui mono o tabenai koto ja nai.
In the end, balance isn't about never eating junk food.
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