字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

arm, ability, talent

On’yomi ワン
Kun’yomi うで

Origin

This character combines the flesh radical 月 on the left, which identifies the word as something related to the body, with the sound component 宛 on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The 月 radical alone doesn't create the meaning—instead, the character as a whole refers to an arm, the limb of the body. Over time, the meaning expanded from the physical arm to include the idea of personal skill or ability, likely because your arm's strength and dexterity represent what you're capable of doing.

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

腕 12 strokes

Components

  • 月 radical left
  • 宛 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 右腕 みぎうで right arm
  • 手腕 しゅわん ability; capability
  • 敏腕 びんわん ability; capability
  • 両腕 りょううで both arms
  • 腕前 うでまえ ability; skill
  • 腕白 わんぱく naughty; mischievous
  • 腕力 わんりょく strength in one's arms; physical strength
  • 左腕 ひだりうで left arm

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
130
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1163 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08155