字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

person in charge, connection, duty, concern oneself

On’yomi ケイ
Kun’yomi かか.る、かかり、-がかり、かか.わる

Origin

This character combines a person radical on the left with a sound hint on the right. The right component, which resembles a thread or line, provides a clue to how the character is pronounced in Chinese-derived readings. The left side marks this as being about a person. Over time, the meaning evolved to describe someone who holds a connection or duty — a person who is "linked" or "tied" to a responsibility, much as a thread connects things. This became the sense of a person in charge or someone concerned with a particular matter.

係 9 strokes

Components

  • 亻 radical left
  • 系 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 関係 かんけい relation; relationship
  • 係官 かかりかん official in charge
  • 係争 けいそう dispute; contention
  • 係長 かかりちょう subsection head; assistant manager
  • 連係 れんけい connection; linking
  • 係員 かかりいん person in charge; official
  • 関係者 かんけいしゃ person concerned; people involved (in an event)
  • 無関係 むかんけい unrelated

Related kanji

Same sound component 系
Same radical

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
9
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#232 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+04FC2