Meaning & readings
hole, aperture, slit, cave, den
On’yomi ケツ
Kun’yomi あな
Nanori けな、しし、な
Origin
This character pictures a hole or opening in a structure. The top component represents a roof or enclosed space, while the bottom component shows something spreading apart or dividing. Together, they suggest an opening or gap in a solid surface — like a hole in a wall or roof, or a cavity you could enter. The visual arrangement makes sense for how the character came to mean hole, cave, den, or any kind of aperture in a solid object.
Components
- 宀
- 八
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 116
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1366 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07A74