Meaning & readings
affinity, relation, connection, edge, border, verge, brink
Origin
This character combines the thread radical on the left, which signals that the word relates to textiles or things that connect, with a sound component on the right that indicates how to pronounce it. The idea of threads naturally extended to mean connections between people or things—the invisible "threads" that link one person or event to another. The edge or border meaning likely developed because the thread or hem marks the outer limit of a fabric. Over time, the character came to represent any kind of relation, affinity, or boundary where two things meet.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 糸
- 彖
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 因縁 いんねん fate; destiny
- 縁起 えんぎ omen; sign of luck
- 縁側 えんがわ engawa; external corridor on the outer side of traditional Japanese houses
- 縁談 えんだん marriage proposal; marriage talks
- 額縁 がくぶち (picture) frame
- 血縁 けつえん blood relationship; consanguinity
- 絶縁 ぜつえん breaking off relations (with); severing one's connections (with)
- 無縁 むえん unrelated; unconnected
Reference
- Strokes
- 15
- Kangxi radical
- 120
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1291 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+07E01