字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

wither, die, dry up, be seasoned

On’yomi コ
Kun’yomi か.れる、か.らす

Origin

The character shows a tree (木) next to a component (古) that hints at the pronunciation. The tree part conveys the basic meaning of something plant-related, while the right component signals roughly how to say the word. When a tree loses moisture and stops growing, it withers and dries out—the wood becomes hard and seasoned. Over time, the character came to mean both the literal process of a plant dying and drying, and the figurative sense of something becoming seasoned or mature from age.

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

枯 9 strokes

Components

  • 木 radical left
  • 古 sound hint right

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

Common words

  • 栄枯 えいこ vicissitudes; ups and downs
  • 枯死 こし withering; dying
  • 枯葉 かれは dead leaf; dry leaves
  • 枯渇 こかつ drying up; running dry
  • 枯れる かれる to wither (of a plant); to be blasted
  • 枯れ木 かれき dead tree; withered tree
  • 木枯らし こがらし cold wintry wind

Related kanji

Same sound component 古
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
75
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1749 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+067AF