Meaning & readings
deceased, the late, dying, perish
On’yomi ボウ、モウ
Kun’yomi な.い、な.き-、ほろ.びる、ほろ.ぶ、ほろ.ぼす
Origin
This character appears to show a person or head bending downward, which most likely combines the idea of something disappearing or falling away. The top component suggests a person or head, while the lower strokes indicate a downward or fading direction. When something bends down or falls, it moves out of sight and is gone, which led to the meaning of death, perishing, or ceasing to exist. The visual simplicity of just three strokes captures the core idea of something vanishing or no longer being present.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 亠
- 匸
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 3
- Kangxi radical
- 8
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #661 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+04EA1