Meaning & readings
healthy, health, strength, persistence
On’yomi ケン
Kun’yomi すこ.やか
Nanori かつ、たけ、たけし、たて、とし、やす、やすし
Origin
This character combines a person marker on the left with the character 建 on the right, which serves as a sound hint for pronunciation. The left side, showing a person, connects the idea to human qualities. The right component 建 suggests the sound "ken" and originally meant "to build" or "to establish," which pairs well with the sense of something solid and well-constructed. Together, the character evokes the idea of a person who is built strong and sturdy, hence healthy and persistent. Over time, the meaning shifted to emphasize the strength and well-being of the body and mind.
Components
- 亻
- 建
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 9
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #572 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05065