Meaning & readings
fond, pleasing, like something
On’yomi コウ
Kun’yomi この.む、す.く、よ.い、い.い
Nanori こ、たか、とし、よし
Origin
This character combines the ideas of a woman (女) and a child (子) to express something pleasing or good. The logic seems to be that a woman with a child represents a desirable or happy situation, which led to the broader meaning of "fondness" or "something that pleases." Over time, the character's meaning expanded beyond this specific image to mean "like" or "good" in general. The two components work together as a visual metaphor for what brings satisfaction or joy.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 38
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #423 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+0597D