Meaning & readings
calm, quiet, moderation
On’yomi オン
Kun’yomi おだ.やか
Origin
The character combines the radical for grain or crops with a sound component that suggests how to pronounce the character. The grain radical evokes the image of rice plants growing steadily and peacefully in fields, which naturally connects to the idea of calm and quietness. Over time, this visual association between the orderly growth of crops and the concept of peaceful moderation became established in the character's meaning, even as the sound component remained purely a pronunciation guide.
Components
- 禾
- 㥯V
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 16
- Kangxi radical
- 115
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1535 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07A4F