Meaning & readings
wherefore, a reason
On’yomi ユ、ユウ、ユイ
Kun’yomi よし、よ.る
Origin
This character most likely started as a picture of a path or road running through a landscape. The vertical line in the middle represents the path itself, while the rectangular shapes suggest the bounded space or field around it. Over time, the shape became associated with the idea of a "way" or "path," which then extended naturally to mean "reason" or "wherefore"—the sense that a reason is the path or way that leads to an understanding or outcome. The character's simple, geometric form made it easy to write and became standardized in the form we see today.
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 102
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #325 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07531