Meaning & readings

wind, air, style, manner

On’yomi フウ、フ
Kun’yomi かぜ、かざ-
Nanori い、え

Origin

This character depicts wind itself. The original picture showed something like a swirling motion or waves moving through air, capturing the invisible force that we recognize by its effects — how things blow, bend, and flow. Over time, the brushstrokes became more structured and stylized into the current form, but the basic idea remained: a visual representation of the movement and activity of wind. Because wind has a way of shaping and changing things wherever it reaches, the character's meaning expanded beyond just wind to include the broader sense of "style" or "manner" — the distinctive way something moves or appears.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Pictographic or simple.

9 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (風).

Common words

  • 一風 いっぷう oddity; eccentricity
  • 逆風 ぎゃくふう headwind; adverse wind
  • 強風 きょうふう strong wind; high wind
  • 古風 こふう old-fashioned; archaic
  • 作風 さくふう style (of a work, author, artist, etc.); characteristics
  • 疾風 しっぷう gale; strong wind
  • 秋風 あきかぜ autumn breeze; fall breeze
  • 新風 しんぷう new style

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
182
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#558 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+098A8