time, about, toward
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.
何年も前、日本での生活が始まったばかりの頃、ラファエルは終電を逃しました。
Nan-nen mo mae, Nihon de no seikatsu ga hajimatta bakari no koro, Rafaeru wa shuuden o nogashimashita.
Years ago, back when he'd just started his life in Japan, Rafael missed the last train.
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