Origin

This character combines metal on the left, since mirrors were traditionally made from polished metal, with a sound component on the right that hints at the pronunciation. The character literally pictures the idea of a reflective metal object—the metal radical anchors the practical material, while the right side tells you how to say it. Over time, as the meaning became established, this combination stuck as the standard way to write the word for mirror in Japanese and Chinese.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).