字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

tail, end, counter for fish, lower slope of mountain

On’yomi ビ
Kun’yomi お

Origin

This character combines two components to represent a tail. The left part, which looks like a body or form, represents the main structure, while the right part shows hair or fur sticking out. Together they create the image of hair extending from the end of something — a tail. Since a tail is typically the last or lowest part of an animal, the character also came to mean "end" more broadly, and eventually was used to count fish, animals that are most recognizable by their tails.

尾 7 strokes

Components

  • 尸 radical top-left wrap
  • 毛 meaning part position.tarec

Common words

  • 首尾 しゅび beginning and end; from beginning to end
  • 尻尾 しっぽ tail (of an animal)
  • 尾行 びこう shadow; tail
  • 尾根 おね (mountain) ridge
  • 末尾 まつび end (e.g. of report, document, paragraph, etc.)
  • 最後尾 さいこうび end (e.g. of a line); tail end

Related kanji

Same radical
Shares components

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
44
Formation type
Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#875 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05C3E