Meaning & readings

dream, vision, illusion

On’yomi ム、ボウ
Kun’yomi ゆめ、ゆめ.みる、くら.い

Origin

This character appears to combine the roof radical (the top strokes that look like a house or shelter) with elements suggesting darkness or obscurity below. The formation likely reflects how dreams happen in the dark stillness of sleep, when you're lying under the roof at night. The character's overall shape evokes that closed-off, interior space where dreams occur — a private mental world hidden from the outside view. Over time, this visual idea of being enclosed in darkness came to represent the abstract concept of dreams and visions themselves.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

13 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (夢).

  • meaning part

Common words

  • 悪夢 あくむ nightmare; bad dream
  • 初夢 はつゆめ first dream of the New year (believed to foretell one's luck)
  • 夢幻 むげん dreams; fantasy
  • 夢想 むそう dream; vision
  • 夢中 むちゅう absorbed in; immersed in
  • 夢にも ゆめにも (not) in the slightest; (not) at all

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
36
Grade
Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#943 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05922