Meaning & readings

fly, skip (pages), scatter

On’yomi
Kun’yomi と.ぶ、と.ばす、-と.ばす
Nanori あす、とび

Origin

This character appears to combine visual elements suggesting upward movement and wings. The two side components (廾) resembling outstretched hands or wings frame a central element (), creating an image of something spreading outward and rising into the air. The spreading, outward motion captured by this arrangement naturally came to mean "fly" or "scatter," since flying things move through the air in dispersed paths. Over time, the character also picked up the meaning "skip," as in skipping over parts of something, which shares the sense of rapid, non-continuous movement.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

9 strokes

Components

  • meaning part
  • meaning part
  • meaning part

Common words

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
183
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#580 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+098DB