Meaning & readings

sphere, ball

On’yomi ヘキ
Kun’yomi たま

Origin

This character combines two parts: the top component suggests something complete or whole, while the bottom component is the radical for jade or precious stone. Together they depict a sphere or ball made of jade—something round, complete, and valuable. The character evolved to mean not just jade spheres specifically, but spheres or balls in general. The shape reflects how ancient Chinese writers combined the idea of wholeness with the material or category (jade/precious objects) to express this rounded form.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

18 strokes

Components

  • meaning part top
  • radical bottom

Common words

  • 完璧 かんぺき perfect; complete

Reference

Strokes
18
Kangxi radical
96
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
Former JLPT
Unicode
U+074A7