Meaning & readings
obey, order, turn, right, docility, occasion
On’yomi ジュン
Nanori あや、あり、おき、おさむ、しげ、したがう、とし、なお、のぶ、のり、まさ、むね、もと、ゆき、よし、より
Origin
This character combines water (川) on the left with head or face (頁) on the right. The idea is that water naturally flows and follows the path of least resistance—it obeys the landscape without resistance. Applied to people, this suggests going along smoothly with circumstances or following the natural order of things, which is how the character came to mean "obey," "order," and "turn" (as in following a sequence). The pairing of flowing water with the head hints at compliance and docility, the way a person should move through the world as naturally and smoothly as water flows.
Components
- 川
- 頁
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 12
- Kangxi radical
- 181
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #779 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+09806