Meaning & readings
distract, be mistaken for, go astray, divert
On’yomi フン
Kun’yomi まぎ.れる、-まぎ.れ、まぎ.らす、まぎ.らわす、まぎ.らわしい
Origin
This character combines thread (糸) on the left with a sound hint (分, which gives the "fun" sound) on the right. The thread component suggests the visual idea of tangled or twisted threads, which mirrors the sense of things becoming confused or mixed together. When threads are tangled, they distract from their original purpose or cause you to lose your way among them, which naturally led to the character's meanings of distraction and going astray. The right component tells you roughly how the character sounds rather than adding to the meaning.
Common words
- 紛糾 ふんきゅう complication; confusion
- 紛失 ふんしつ loss; going missing
- 紛争 ふんそう dispute; conflict
- 紛れ まぐれ fluke; chance
- 紛らす まぎらす to divert (e.g. one's mind); to distract
- 紛れる まぎれる to disappear into; to be lost in
- 紛らわしい まぎらわしい easily mixed up (e.g. similar words); easily mistaken
- 紛れもない まぎれもない unmistakable; evident
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 120
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #994 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07D1B