Meaning & readings
ability, talent, skill, capacity
On’yomi ノウ
Kun’yomi よ.く、あた.う
Nanori たか、の、のり、よし
Origin
The character 能 combines two elements to express the idea of capability. The bottom part, 月, originally depicted flesh or a body, representing physical form. The top part, 厶, suggests something hidden or contained within. Together, these components create the sense of inner strength or power residing in the body—the idea that someone possesses talent or ability within themselves. Over time, this visual metaphor expanded to mean ability and skill in a broader sense.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 厶
- 月
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 10
- Kangxi radical
- 130
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #273 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+080FD