Meaning & readings
thick, heavy, rich, kind, cordial, brazen, shameless
On’yomi コウ
Kun’yomi あつ.い、あか
Nanori あ、あっ
Origin
This character appears to show a layered or substantial form. The left side resembles a vertical structure, while the right side suggests something accumulated or built up in depth. The overall composition visually conveys the idea of thickness or heaviness by showing multiple elements stacked or pressed together. Over time, this visual representation of physical thickness was extended to describe richness or abundance, and eventually the more abstract meanings of kindness and sincerity, since these qualities were thought of as deep and substantial in a person's character.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (厚).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 27
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #768 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+0539A