Meaning & readings
nonplussed, three (in documents), going, coming, visiting, visit, be defeated, die, be madly in love, participate, take part in
Origin
This character most likely depicts three people standing together, which is why one of its meanings is literally "three." The image of multiple people gathering together evolved to also mean "going" or "visiting" — the idea of people coming together in one place. Over time, the character took on the broader sense of "attending" or "participating," and in formal documents it's still used as a way to write the number three. The connection between the physical image of assembled people and the concept of visiting or coming together makes this character a straightforward picture that directly shaped its meanings.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (参).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 28
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #201 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+053C2