Meaning & readings
matter, thing, fact, business, reason, possibly
On’yomi ジ、ズ
Kun’yomi こと、つか.う、つか.える
Nanori ろ
Origin
This character combines a mouth symbol (口) with a hand or tool component (⺕) to show someone using their mouth to give orders or direct work. The basic idea is that managing affairs or business involves speaking commands and coordinating action. Over time, the character broadened to mean any matter, thing, or task that needs to be handled. The hand-and-mouth pairing captures how human activity and communication create "business" or "things" that matter.
Components
- 口
- ⺕
- 亅
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 6
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #18 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+04E8B