Meaning & readings
uncommon, different, queerness, strangeness, wonderful, curious, unusual
On’yomi イ
Kun’yomi こと、こと.なる、け
Origin
The character 異 combines two parts to express the idea of difference. The top component 田 represents a field or grid, suggesting something orderly and defined. The bottom component 共 means "together" or "shared." When you put them together — a field with something shared — the idea shifts to what lies outside or beyond the normal shared space, creating the meaning of "different" or "uncommon." Over time, this came to express anything strange, unusual, or wonderfully peculiar that stands apart from what is ordinary.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 102
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #631 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+07570