Meaning & readings

newborn babe, child, young of animals

On’yomi ジ、ニ、ゲイ
Kun’yomi こ、-こ、-っこ
Nanori

Origin

The character combines two elements to represent a child. The bottom component 儿, which looks like legs, is a classifier used in Chinese characters for anything related to people or human forms. The top part suggests a small or young person. Together, these elements visually and conceptually build the idea of a young human—someone small and developing, with the leg component emphasizing the physical form of a child. This compound-ideographic approach lets the character's shape itself convey the meaning of youth and immaturity.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

7 strokes

Components

  • meaning part top
  • radical bottom

Common words

  • 遺児 いじ orphan; child left by the deceased
  • 育児 いくじ childcare; child-rearing
  • 園児 えんじ kindergarten pupil; kindergartener
  • 孤児 こじ orphan
  • 児童 じどう children; juvenile
  • 女児 じょじ girl; baby girl
  • 小児 しょうに young child; infant
  • 胎児 たいじ fetus; foetus

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
10
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#679 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05150