字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

plan, suggestion, draft, ponder, fear, proposition, idea, expectation, worry, table, bench

On’yomi アン
Kun’yomi つくえ

Origin

The character 案 combines wood (木) at the bottom with 安 on top, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation "an." The wood radical suggests this character relates to wooden objects, and indeed the kun'yomi reading つくえ means "desk" or "table" — a piece of wooden furniture. Over time, the meaning extended from the physical object to more abstract uses: a desk is where you lay out plans and ideas, so 案 came to mean "plan," "proposal," or "to ponder" — the mental work done at a desk. This shift from concrete object to abstract concept is common in Chinese characters.

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

案 10 strokes

Components

  • 安 sound hint top
  • 木 radical bottom

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

Common words

  • 案外 あんがい unexpectedly; surprisingly
  • 案件 あんけん matter (to discuss); item (on the agenda)
  • 案内 あんない guidance; leading (the way)
  • 議案 ぎあん legislative bill; measure
  • 懸案 けんあん pending question; unresolved problem
  • 原案 げんあん original plan; original bill
  • 考案 こうあん plan; device
  • 思案 しあん careful thought; consideration

Related kanji

Same radical

Reference

Strokes
10
Kangxi radical
75
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#206 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06848