Meaning & readings
every
On’yomi マイ
Kun’yomi ごと、-ごと.に
Nanori つね
Origin
This character combines a component meaning "mother" (the bottom part) with a smaller element on top. The idea is that a mother gives birth repeatedly, one child after another—suggesting something that happens over and over. From this sense of repetition came the meaning "every" or "each time." The character essentially pictures the cyclical, recurring nature of motherhood to express the concept of something happening regularly without exception.
Components
- 𠂉
- 毋
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 80
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #436 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+06BCE