漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
可: can, passable
Also: approval
口 carries the meaning · 丁 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.
One reading, and the words that use it
カka · on'yomi · in compounds
- 可能性かのうせいpotentiality, possibility
- 可燃物かねんぶつflammable materials
- 可能なかのうなpossible
- 不可能なふかのうなimpossible
- 不可分なふかぶんなindivisible
- 不可解なふかかいなmysterious, baffling
- 可決するかけつするapprove
- 許可するきょかするpermit [v.t.]
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 可愛らしいかわいらしいlovely, sweet
Also read コク, -べき, -べし, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)口 (meaning) + 丂 (sound)
Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 口 + phonetic 丂 with a reference to exhaled air. Perhaps its original meaning was "to sing", then 訶 and 哥 (可 written twice).
Source: Wiktionary, 可 (rev. 93450666), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Open your mouth wide and what do you see? A simple, sturdy square!”
Connections
Also built on street (丁)
可 gives its sound to
The family reading is カ (ka). Sound parts: KanjiVG.
Also read コク
10 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kě
Same form: 可 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 可 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 可 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin kě most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.