know, wisdom
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.
出かけることを知らせようと、携帯を手に取りました…
Dekakeru koto wo shiraseyou to, keitai wo te ni torimashita...
She picked up her phone to let them know she was heading out...
実は、ゆきさんはルーカスがどれだけ日本語を頑張っているか、よく知っていました。
Jitsu wa, Yuki-san wa Rūkasu ga dore dake nihongo o ganbatte iru ka, yoku shitte imashita.
Actually, Yuki knew how hard Lucas had been working to practice Japanese.
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