Origin

This character is a picture of a stone. The shape shows a large solid form (like a rock or boulder) with a small opening or hollow space inside, which captures how stones appear in nature — solid and heavy but sometimes with cavities or gaps. Over time, the brushstrokes simplified into the five strokes we write today, but the basic idea of representing a hard, compact object remained. Because stones were important materials in ancient life, this simple picture became the standard way to write the word for stone in Japanese and Chinese.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.