Meaning & readings
good, pleasing, skilled
On’yomi リョウ
Kun’yomi よ.い、-よ.い、い.い、-い.い
Nanori じ、なが、まこと、よし、ら、りょ、ろう
Origin
This character most likely depicts a hand or tool being used skillfully, reflecting the idea of doing something well. The shape originally represented careful, precise work—the kind of action that produces good results. Over time, the meaning expanded from "skillfully made" to the broader sense of "good" or "pleasing" in general. The character's structure suggests deliberate, controlled movement, which is why it came to mean excellence and quality.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (良).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 138
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #501 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+0826F