字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

shadow, silhouette, phantom

On’yomi エイ
Kun’yomi かげ

Origin

The character 影 combines a sound hint on the left with a visual classifier on the right. The left component 景 (kei) provides a pronunciation guide, suggesting how to say the character. The right component 彡, which originally depicted three strokes or threads, acts as a classifier indicating something related to appearance or form. Together, these parts create a character for shadow or silhouette — an image or form that appears but has no substance, much like how a shadow mimics an object's outline without being solid.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

影 15 strokes

Components

  • 景 sound hint left
  • 彡 radical right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 遺影 いえい portrait of a deceased person
  • 影絵 かげえ shadow picture; silhouette
  • 影響 えいきょう influence; effect
  • 幻影 げんえい phantom; vision
  • 撮影 さつえい photography (still or motion); photographing
  • 投影 とうえい projection (of a shadow); casting (a reflection)
  • 面影 おもかげ face; looks
  • 人影 ひとかげ figure of a person; figures of people

Related kanji

Same sound component 景
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
15
Kangxi radical
59
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#464 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05F71