Meaning & readings

music, comfort, ease

On’yomi ガク、ラク、ゴウ
Kun’yomi たの.しい、たの.しむ、この.む
Nanori さ、た、やす、ら

Origin

This character appears to be a picture of a musical instrument—specifically, a drum or percussion instrument with a stand. The upper part represents the drum head or resonating surface, while the lower strokes suggest the wooden frame or stand that holds it. Since music and musical performance were associated with leisure and enjoyment in ancient culture, the character naturally came to mean both "music" and the pleasure or comfort that comes from entertainment and relaxation.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

13 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (楽).

  • meaning part

Common words

  • 音楽 おんがく music
  • 雅楽 ががく gagaku; ceremonial Japanese court music
  • 快楽 かいらく pleasure
  • 楽園 らくえん paradise; Eden
  • 楽屋 がくや dressing room; green room
  • 楽観 らっかん optimism; taking an optimistic view
  • 楽器 がっき musical instrument
  • 楽曲 がっきょく musical composition; tune

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
75
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#373 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+0697D