Meaning & readings
how many, how much, how far, how long, some, several
On’yomi キ
Kun’yomi いく-、いく.つ、いく.ら
Nanori い、く
Origin
This character combines the idea of something small or thread-like (幺) repeated twice with a component suggesting a lookout or watching point (戍). The doubling of the small element suggests multiplicity or counting — many tiny things added together. When you're trying to figure out "how many" of something, you're essentially counting up small units or looking carefully to measure and observe. Over time, this visual idea of repeated small things and careful observation became associated with the meaning of asking about quantity or amount.
Components
- 幺
- 幺
- 戍
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 52
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1725 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+05E7E