Meaning & readings
sheet of..., counter for flat thin objects or sheets
On’yomi マイ、バイ
Nanori ひら
Origin
The left side shows wood (木), and the right side is a component related to striking or action (攵). Together they suggest something thin that can be struck or split from wood—like a wooden plank or sheet. Over time, this became a general counter for flat, thin objects of any material, from paper to cloth to tiles. The character's shape thus captures the idea of something slender and flat that can be separated or counted individually.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 木
- 攵
Common words
- 一枚 いちまい one (thin, flat object); one sheet
- 三枚 さんまい three flat objects (sheets of paper, pieces of cloth, etc.)
- 枚挙 まいきょ enumeration
- 枚数 まいすう the number of flat things
- 二枚 にまい two sheets (of paper or other flat objects)
- 一枚岩 いちまいいわ monolith; large slab of rock
- 二枚舌 にまいじた double-dealing; duplicity
- 二枚目 にまいめ handsome man
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 75
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #911 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+0679A