字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

pipe, tube, wind instrument, drunken talk, control, jurisdiction

On’yomi カン
Kun’yomi くだ
Nanori すが

Origin

The character 管 combines bamboo (竹) on top with a sound hint (官) below. Bamboo is used to make tubes and pipes, which explains why this character means pipe or tube. The bottom component hints at how the character is pronounced, rather than adding to its meaning. Over time, the meaning extended from the concrete idea of a tube to more abstract senses like control or jurisdiction — perhaps because tubes channel flow in a particular direction, similar to how authority directs activity.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

管 14 strokes

Components

  • 竹 radical top
  • 官 sound hint bottom

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 移管 いかん transfer of control
  • 管轄 かんかつ jurisdiction; control
  • 管区 かんく jurisdiction
  • 管制 かんせい control (by the state); controlling
  • 管内 かんない within the jurisdiction (of); one's jurisdiction
  • 管理 かんり control; management (e.g. of a business)
  • 気管 きかん trachea; windpipe
  • 血管 けっかん blood vessel; vein

Related kanji

Same sound component 官
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
14
Kangxi radical
118
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#517 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+07BA1