Meaning & readings
insect, bug, temper
On’yomi チュウ、キ
Kun’yomi むし
Nanori む
Origin
This character most likely pictures an insect. The vertical line in the middle represents the body or spine, while the rectangular shapes above and below suggest the head and segments of an insect's form. Over time, the shape simplified into the modern kanji, which still resembles a stylized bug viewed from above. The meaning "temper" probably arose because insects can bite or sting when provoked, so the character came to suggest an irritable or volatile nature.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 口
- 丨
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 142
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1351 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+0866B