字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

source, origin

On’yomi ゲン
Kun’yomi みなもと
Nanori はら、みな、もと

Origin

This character combines water (the three-stroke radical on the left) with a sound hint. The water radical makes sense because a source is where water originates—a spring or fountain. The right component provides a rough pronunciation guide rather than additional meaning. Together, the character pictures the idea of water's origin point, and the shape became associated with "source" or "origin" in a broader sense.

源 13 strokes

Components

  • 氵 radical left
  • 原 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

  • 源泉 げんせん source (of a spring, etc.)
  • 源流 げんりゅう source (e.g. of a river); headwaters
  • 語源 ごげん origin of a word; derivation of a word
  • 根源 こんげん root; source
  • 財源 ざいげん source of funds; resources
  • 資源 しげん resources
  • 震源 しんげん hypocentre (of an earthquake); hypocenter
  • 水源 すいげん source of river; fountainhead

Related kanji

Same sound component 原
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
85
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#738 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+06E90