Meaning & readings
fly, skip (pages), scatter
On’yomi ヒ
Kun’yomi と.ぶ、と.ばす、-と.ばす
Nanori あす、とび
Origin
This character appears to combine visual elements suggesting upward movement and wings. The two side components (廾) resembling outstretched hands or wings frame a central element (十), creating an image of something spreading outward and rising into the air. The spreading, outward motion captured by this arrangement naturally came to mean "fly" or "scatter," since flying things move through the air in dispersed paths. Over time, the character also picked up the meaning "skip," as in skipping over parts of something, which shares the sense of rapid, non-continuous movement.
Components
- 十
- 廾
- 廾
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 9
- Kangxi radical
- 183
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #580 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+098DB