Meaning & readings
next, order, sequence
On’yomi ジ、シ
Kun’yomi つ.ぐ、つぎ
Nanori き、すき、つぐ、よし
Origin
This character combines two components to show the idea of "next" or "sequence." The left part (冫) represents ice or cold, suggesting something frozen or stopped in place. The right part (欠) shows a person lacking or missing something. Together, they create the image of one thing stopping or being incomplete, which leads naturally to what comes after it — the next thing in order. Over time, this visual metaphor became the standard way to write the word for "next" or "sequence."
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 冫
- 欠
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 76
- Grade
- Grade 3 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #222 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+06B21