字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

wheel, ring, circle, link, loop, counter for wheels and flowers

On’yomi リン
Kun’yomi わ
Nanori なわ、も

Origin

The character 輪 combines the radical for vehicle or wheel on the left with a sound hint on the right. The left component 車 shows that this character relates to wheels or round objects that turn, establishing the core meaning. The right component 侖 provides a pronunciation guide, suggesting how the character should be read as rin. Together, the shape captures the idea of a wheel—something round and connected to vehicles—while the sound component helps readers know how to pronounce it.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

輪 15 strokes

Components

  • 車 radical left
  • 侖 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 花輪 はなわ wreath; garland
  • 競輪 けいりん keirin; cycle racing event, usu. 2 km with a paced start and sprint finish
  • 三輪 さんりん three wheels
  • 指輪 ゆびわ (finger) ring
  • 車輪 しゃりん (vehicle) wheel
  • 内輪 うちわ family circle; one's circle (of friends, co-workers, etc.)
  • 年輪 ねんりん annual tree ring; growth ring
  • 両輪 りょうりん two wheels

Related kanji

Same sound component 侖
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
15
Kangxi radical
159
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#693 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+08F2A