Meaning & readings

desk, table

On’yomi キ
Kun’yomi つくえ

Origin

This character combines wood (木), the material that desks and tables are made from, with a sound component (几) that hints at the pronunciation. The wood radical on the left tells you the character is about something wooden, while the right side provides a clue to how the word sounds in Chinese. Together, these parts create a character that represents a practical wooden furniture piece used for working or eating.

机 6 strokes

Components

  • 木 radical left
  • 几 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 机上 きじょう on the desk

Reference

Strokes
6
Kangxi radical
75
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1671 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+0673A