father
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.
今年のプログラムには、新しい種目がありました:祖父母のかけっこです。
Kotoshi no puroguramu ni wa, atarashii shumoku ga arimashita: sofubo no kakekko desu.
The program had a new event this year: the grandparents' race.
もしもし、お母さん?今週末、みんなでお父さんのお墓で会うのはどう?
Moshi moshi, okaasan? Konshuumatsu, minna de otousan no ohaka de au no wa dou?
Hi, Mom? What if we all met at Dad's grave this weekend?
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