Meaning & readings

the following, next

On’yomi ヨク

Origin

The character combines two parts to express "the following day" or "next." The bottom component means "to stand" or "to be upright," suggesting something that stands forward or comes after. The top component , meaning "feathers" or "wings," primarily serves as a sound hint for the character's pronunciation rather than contributing to its meaning. Together, these components create a character that pictorially suggests something rising up or standing ahead, which came to represent the idea of what comes next or follows.

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

11 strokes

Components

  • sound hint top
  • meaning part bottom

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

Common words

  • 翌月 よくげつ following month
  • 翌週 よくしゅう the following week; the next week
  • 翌日 よくじつ next day
  • 翌年 よくねん following year
  • 翌朝 よくあさ next morning

Reference

Strokes
11
Kangxi radical
124
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#1070 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+07FCC