Meaning & readings
study, learning, science
On’yomi ガク
Kun’yomi まな.ぶ
Nanori たか、のり
Origin
This character combines a sound hint at the top with a meaning-based component at the bottom. The top part roughly indicates the pronunciation, while the bottom part is the character for child or small thing, used here as a classifier. Together they express the idea of a child learning or acquiring knowledge—the fundamental sense of "study" and "learning." Over time, the meaning expanded to include any systematic learning or academic pursuit, and eventually "science" in the modern era.
Components
- 𦥯
- 子
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 39
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #63 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+05B66