nothingness, none, ain't, nothing
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.
なんとか、ルーカスは無事に終わらせることができました。
Nantoka, Rūkasu wa buji ni owaraseru koto ga dekimashita.
Somehow, he managed to finish.
いえいえ、無事でよかったです！
Ie ie, buji de yokatta desu!
Oh, please, I'm just glad everything turned out fine!
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.
店主は無駄口をきかず、素早く手を動かしていました。
Tenshu wa mudaguchi o kikazu, subayaku te o ugokashite imashita.
The owner worked fast, without saying a word more than necessary.
こうして、「だめ」だらけの一日は、味噌おにぎりと無料のソフトクリームで締めくくられたのでした。
Koushite, "dame" darake no ichinichi wa, miso onigiri to muryou no sofuto kuriimu de shimekukurareta no deshita.
And that's how a day full of "no" ended with a miso onigiri and a free scoop of ice cream.
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