Meaning & readings
prefecture
On’yomi ケン
Kun’yomi か.ける
Nanori あがた、がた
Origin
This character most likely combines "eye" or "see" with "hang" or "suspend" to represent a prefecture. The idea appears to be that a prefecture is a division of territory that stands out or is marked off — something you can see as distinct. Over centuries of writing, the original picture-like form became more abstract and geometric, until it developed into the simplified shape we see today. The character's meaning shifted from the literal sense of something visible or suspended to the administrative concept of a regional division.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (県).
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 109
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #140 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+0770C