Meaning & readings
substitute, change, convert, replace, period, age, counter for decades of ages, eras, etc., generation, charge, rate, fee
On’yomi ダイ、タイ
Kun’yomi か.わる、かわ.る、かわ.り、か.わり、-がわ.り、-が.わり、か.える、よ、しろ
Nanori す
Origin
The character 代 combines a person radical on the left with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The core meaning comes from the idea of one person taking the place of another—hence substitute or replace. Over time, this sense of "taking someone's place" extended to mean a period of time when someone holds power (an age or era), and then more generally to any kind of change or conversion. The person radical makes clear the concept centers on human substitution or succession.
Components
- 亻
- 弋
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 9
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #66 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+04EE3