Meaning & readings
see, hopes, chances, idea, opinion, look at, visible
On’yomi ケン
Kun’yomi み.る、み.える、み.せる
Origin
The character 見 combines two parts to show the act of seeing. The top component 目 is a picture of an eye, which is the organ of sight. The bottom component 儿 represents a person or legs, showing someone in a position to look at something. Together, these parts create an image of a person using their eyes to observe the world, which is why the character means "see" and related ideas like opinion or idea—what you see and understand.
Components
- 目
- 儿
Common words
- 意見 いけん opinion; view
- 一見 いっけん look; glimpse
- 下見 したみ preliminary inspection; having a look in advance
- 花見 はなみ cherry blossom viewing; flower viewing
- 会見 かいけん interview; audience
- 外見 がいけん outward appearance; looks
- 形見 かたみ memento (esp. of a deceased person); keepsake
- 月見 つきみ moon viewing (esp. during the eight month of the lunar calendar)
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 147
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #22 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+0898B