Meaning & readings
closed, shut
On’yomi ヘイ
Kun’yomi と.じる、と.ざす、し.める、し.まる、た.てる
Nanori へ
Origin
The character 閉 combines a gate (門) with 才, which represents something small or narrow. Together, these components depict the idea of a gate being closed or blocked off — when a gate is shut, it restricts passage and creates a barrier. The gate radical (門) is a common classifier in Japanese for characters related to doors, entrances, and closure, while the smaller element suggests the idea of something being confined or sealed. This visual combination captures the core meaning of being closed or shut.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 169
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #951 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+09589