漢字Kanji · in Time & Sequence
下: below, down
Also: descend, give, low, inferior
一 carries the meaning · 卜 is drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
9 readings, and the words that use each
カka · on'yomi · in compounds
- 地下鉄ちかてつsubway
ゲge · on'yomi
- 上下するじょうげするgo up and down
したshita · kun'yomi · on its own
- 下したunder, below
- 靴下くつしたsocks
しもshimo · kun'yomi
- 風下かざしもleeward
さげるsageru · kun'yomi
- 下げるさげるhang, lower [v.t.]
さがるsagaru · kun'yomi
- 下がるさがるhang down, fall, step back [v.i.]
くだるkudaru · kun'yomi
- 下るくだるdescend
おろすorosu · kun'yomi
- 下ろすおろすtake down, lower [v.t.]
おりるoriru · kun'yomi
- 下りるおりるget off [v.i.]
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 下手へたunskillful
Also read もと, くだり, くだす, -くだす, くださる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogram (指事)
Short horizontal below long arc (contrast 上).
Source: Wiktionary, 下 (rev. 93626471), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Everything begins with one. This radical is the first strike of the brush that defines the horizon, the first step of a long journey, and the very foundation of the mathematical world.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xià
Same form: 下 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 下 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 下 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin xià most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.