Meaning & readings

plump, thick, big around

On’yomi タイ、タ
Kun’yomi ふと.い、ふと.る
Nanori おお、たか、ひろ

Origin

This character combines "big" () with a dot below it to show something that is not just large but thick or swollen outward. The dot acts like a visual marker emphasizing the rounded, bulging quality of something plump or wide around, as opposed to merely tall or long. By adding this small dot to the character for "big," the original meaning expanded to specifically capture the idea of thickness or fullness in width rather than just size in general.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

4 strokes

Components

  • radical top
  • meaning part bottom

Common words

  • 丸太 まるた log
  • 太い ふとい fat; thick
  • 太る ふとる to put on weight; to gain weight
  • 太古 たいこ ancient times; prehistoric times
  • 太鼓 たいこ drum
  • 太字 ふとじ boldface; bold-type
  • 太刀 たち long sword (as opposed to the shorter katana)
  • 太陽 たいよう Sun

Reference

Strokes
4
Kangxi radical
37
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#552 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+0592A