字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

gigantic, big, large, great

On’yomi キョ
Nanori おお、か、こ、なお

Origin

This character appears to show three box-like shapes stacked or combined together. The repeated boxes likely suggest something vast or expansive by multiplying or layering the same element. The idea is that just as multiple boxes together take up more space than one alone, this character came to mean "gigantic" or "large" — the repetition of the shape itself conveys the sense of something big and substantial. Over time, the visual concept of accumulated or multiplied forms became associated with the meaning of greatness and size.

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

巨 5 strokes

Components

  • 匚 radical
  • 匚 radical
  • 匚 radical

Common words

  • 巨額 きょがく huge sum (esp. of money); enormous sum
  • 巨漢 きょかん giant
  • 巨匠 きょしょう master; masterhand
  • 巨人 きょじん giant; great man
  • 巨星 きょせい giant star
  • 巨体 きょたい huge body; large build
  • 巨大 きょだい huge; gigantic
  • 巨視的 きょしてき macroscopic

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
5
Kangxi radical
48
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#892 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+05DE8