Meaning & readings
need, main point, essence, pivot, key to
On’yomi ヨウ
Kun’yomi い.る、かなめ
Nanori とし
Origin
This character appears to combine a woman (女) with an old form meaning "cover" or "container" (覀) to express the idea of something essential or necessary. The pairing suggests what a woman—or by extension, a household or family—needs to maintain and sustain itself. Over time, this visual combination came to represent the broader concept of necessity, importance, and the key or essential point of something. The character's meaning shifted from the concrete domestic need to the more abstract notion of what is vital or pivotal.
Components
- 覀
- 女
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 146
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #106 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+08981