Meaning & readings
add, addition, increase, join, include, Canada
On’yomi カ
Kun’yomi くわ.える、くわ.わる
Origin
This character combines two visual elements to show the idea of addition or increase. The left side shows 力, which represents physical strength or force. The right side shows 口, a square representing a mouth or opening. Together, these suggest adding power or effort into something—like putting more strength into an action or combining forces. Over time, this visual metaphor of joining forces came to mean "add" or "join" in the mathematical and general sense we know today.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 19
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #130 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+052A0