Meaning & readings
fit, suit, join
On’yomi ゴウ、ガッ、カッ
Kun’yomi あ.う、-あ.う、あ.い、あい-、-あ.い、-あい、あ.わす、あ.わせる、-あ.わせる
Nanori あう、あん、い、か、こう、ごお、に、ね、や、わい
Origin
This character most likely started as a picture of a lid or cover sitting on top of a container or opening, shown by the box-like shape on the bottom and the roof-like top. When two things fit together perfectly—like a lid matching its container—they join or suit each other. Over time the shape became more abstract and simplified into the six strokes we see today, but the core idea stayed the same: things coming together in a proper fit.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (合).
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 30
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #41 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+05408