Meaning & readings

petition, request, vow, wish, hope

On’yomi ガン
Kun’yomi ねが.う、-ねがい
Nanori

Origin

This character combines the sound hint (read "gen") on the left, which suggests the pronunciation "gan", with the classifier 頁 (head or face) on the right. The right component, depicting the shape of a human head, points toward the idea of something happening in the mind. Together, the shape represents the mental act of making a wish or petition—thoughts and desires that form in your head—with the sound component helping indicate how to pronounce it.

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

19 strokes

Components

  • sound hint left
  • radical right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 願い ねがい desire; wish
  • 願う ねがう to desire; to wish
  • 願書 がんしょ (written) application; written request
  • 祈願 きがん prayer (for something); supplication
  • 懇願 こんがん pleading; entreaty
  • 志願 しがん aspiration; volunteering
  • 出願 しゅつがん application; filing an application
  • 請願 せいがん petition

Reference

Strokes
19
Kangxi radical
181
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#894 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+09858