Meaning & readings
unfold, expand
On’yomi テン
Nanori のぶ、のり、ひろ、ゆき
Origin
This character appears to combine the idea of a hand or arm (the left side) with movement or unfolding (the right side). The shape suggests the action of spreading something out with your hand, like opening a fan or laying out cloth. Over time, the visual picture of this spreading motion came to represent the more abstract sense of unfolding or expanding. The character's structure reflects how physical gestures of opening and spreading naturally lead to meanings about expansion and display.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (展).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 44
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #352 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05C55