Meaning & readings

favor, blessing, grace, kindness

On’yomi ケイ、エ
Kun’yomi めぐ.む、めぐ.み
Nanori あや、け、さと、さとし、しげ、へい、み、やす

Origin

This character combines the heart radical on the left, which represents feelings and emotions, with a component on the right that originally depicted grain or abundance. The image of a full heart connected to plenty or bounty naturally came to mean favor, blessing, or kindness — the idea of generously giving to others from a place of abundance. Over time, the right side became more abstract, but the core meaning stayed: the emotional quality of giving graciously and receiving blessings from someone's goodness.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

10 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (恵).

  • meaning part

Common words

  • 恩恵 おんけい grace; favor
  • 恵み めぐみ blessing; grace
  • 恵む めぐむ to bless; to show mercy to
  • 知恵 ちえ wisdom; wit
  • 恵比寿 えびす Ebisu; god of fishing and commerce
  • 最恵国 さいけいこく most favored nation; most favoured nation
  • 恵まれる めぐまれる to be blessed with; to be rich in

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
61
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#925 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06075