Kanshudo Component Builder
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By default the Component Builder shows the most common Joyo kanji components (ie, components which are themselves Joyo kanji, or which are used in at least 3 other Joyo kanji). Select an alternative set of components below.



For details of all components and their English names, see the Component collections.
Kanshudo Component Builder Help
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For detailed instructions, see the Component builder how to guide.
To find any kanji, first try to identify the components it is made up of. Once you have identified any component, search for it in any of three ways:
  1. Draw it in the drawing area
  2. Type the name in the text area
  3. Look for it in the list
Example: look up 漢
  • Notice that 漢 is made of several components: 氵 艹 口 夫
  • Draw any of these components (one at a time) in the drawing area, and select it when you see it
  • Alternatively, look for a component in the list. 氵 艹 口 each have three strokes; 夫 has four strokes
  • If you know the meanings of the components, type any of them in the text area: water (氵), grass (艹), mouth (口) or husband (夫)
  • Keep adding components until you can see your kanji in the list of matches that appears near the top.
Kanshudo Component Builder Drawing Help
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The Kanshudo Component Builder can recognize any of the 416 components listed in the chart below the drawing area. Tips:
  • Draw a component in the center of the area, as large as you can
  • Try to draw the component as it appears in the kanji you're looking up
  • Don't worry about stroke order or number of strokes
  • Don't draw more than one component at a time
Not finding your component?
If you believe you've drawn your component correctly but the system is not recognizing it, please:
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部
Components

元 means 'origin' or 'original'

Animation / stroke order not available.
CHALLENGE
BUILD
DRAW
MATCH
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Strokes : 4    Frequency: 223   JLPT: N4    Usefulness: 2    Challenge set: 4    Grade: 2   Intermediate lesson: 10    Beginner lesson: 19   Begins 125 words   Used in 385 words   Used in 2610 names   Component in 45 kanji (5 Jōyō)
Jōyō (常用)
Common readings
On
   ゲン   ガン
Kun
   もと origin
Additional readings
Name    ちか   はじめ   はる   ゆき   よし
Components
⿱  二 two  儿 legs  
Explore these components visually on The Kanji Map ⇗
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Most useful words by reading
In the most useful 10,000 words in Japanese, 元 is used 21 times, read 3 ways.
Across all words in Japanese, 元 is used 378 times, read 3 ways.
ゲン : 219 words FIND ALL
1. lively; full of spirit; energetic; vigorous; vital; spirited
2. healthy; well; fit; in good health
(click the word to view an additional 2 forms, examples and links)
5
1
TEST
ガン : 11 words FIND ALL
adverbial noun (fukushitekimeishi), noun (temporal) (jisoumeishi)
first year (of a specific reign)
(click the word for examples and links)
1
4
TEST
もと : 148 words FIND ALL
noun
1. home area; home town
2. local
(click the word for examples and links)
1
2
TEST
Quick links
QUICK SEARCH WORD SEARCH KANJI SEARCH COMPONENT SEARCH Find kanji that refer to 元
More information
Wiktionary ⇗ | Unicode.org ⇗ | Google Japan ⇗
Additional data
Henshall: 117 (originally: 106)  Joy o' Kanji : 106  Key to Kanji: 284 

Cascading kanji view

元
ゲン   ガン   origin; original   もと origin   
Please LOG IN to view this kanji's mnemonic
2
二
ニ   ふたつ    ふた two   
1
儿
legs
Problem with this kanji? Question or comment? Please CONTACT US.
Search results include information from a variety of sources, including Kanshudo (kanji mnemonics, kanji readings, kanji components, vocab and name frequency data, grammar points), JMdict (vocabulary), Tatoeba (examples), Enamdict (names), KanjiVG (kanji animations and stroke order), and Joy o' Kanji (kanji and radical synopses). Translations provided by Google's Neural Machine Translation engine. For more information see credits.
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