Meaning & readings

technique, art, craft, performance, acting, trick, stunt

On’yomi ゲイ、ウン
Kun’yomi う.える、のり、わざ
Nanori き、げ、なり

Origin

The character combines a grass radical at the top with the element 云 below, creating a compound that originally referred to plants or cultivation. Over time, the meaning shifted to encompass the idea of nurturing or developing skills, which led to the sense of technique and craft. The character eventually came to represent all kinds of performance arts and skillful practices, since these too require careful development and cultivation just like plants. Today it covers everything from acting to acrobatics to any refined technique that has been deliberately grown and perfected.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

7 strokes

Components

  • radical top
  • meaning part bottom

Common words

  • 園芸 えんげい horticulture; gardening
  • 演芸 えんげい entertainment; performance
  • 学芸 がくげい arts and sciences; liberal arts
  • 芸者 げいしゃ geisha; professional female entertainer, usu. at traditional banquets
  • 芸術 げいじゅつ art; the arts
  • 芸人 げいにん (TV) comedian
  • 芸能 げいのう public entertainment; performing arts
  • 芸名 げいめい stage name

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
140
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#719 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+082B8