Meaning & readings
send back, return
On’yomi カン
Kun’yomi かえ.る
Origin
The character 還 combines a sound hint with a classifier for movement. The component 睘 indicates the pronunciation (roughly "kan"), while the left side shows a classifier related to going or returning. The visual idea of something moving back or being sent in a different direction gets paired with this sound element to create the character for "return" or "send back." Over time, the components were standardized into the modern form you see today.
Components
- 睘
- ⻌
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 還元 かんげん restoration; return
- 還流 かんりゅう return current; reflux
- 還暦 かんれき kanreki; one's 60th birthday (or 61st in the traditional age reckoning system) when one has lived through a full sexagenary cycle
- 帰還 きかん return (home); repatriation
- 償還 しょうかん repayment; redemption
- 送還 そうかん sending home; repatriation
- 奪還 だっかん recapture; retaking
- 返還 へんかん return; restoration
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 16
- Kangxi radical
- 162
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #910 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+09084