Meaning & readings
separate, branch off, diverge, fork, another, extra, specially
Origin
This character appears to depict the idea of separation through its visual structure. The left side shows a vertical line (representing something whole or unified), while the right side shows a knife or blade shape. Together, they suggest the action of cutting or dividing something into separate parts—just as a knife splits one object into two distinct pieces. Over time, this image of cutting or splitting came to represent the broader meanings of "separate," "diverge," and "another" or "extra."
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (別).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 7
- Kangxi radical
- 18
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #214 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 3
- Unicode
- U+05225