漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
和: harmony, Japanese style
Also: peace, soften, Japan
口 carries the meaning · 禾 gives the sound
Bronze · Western Zhou Today
Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Six readings, and the words that use each
ワwa · on'yomi · in compounds
- 和食わしょくJapanese-style meal
- 和歌わか31 syllable poem
- 平和へいわpeace, harmony
- 温和なおんわなgentle, mild, moderate
- 緩和するかんわするrelief, mitigate
- 調和するちょうわするharmonize, be in harmony
オo · on'yomi
- 和尚おしょうBuddhist priest
やわらぐyawaragu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 和らぐやわらぐsoften, calm down
やわらげるyawarageru · kun'yomi
- 和らげるやわらげるsoften, moderate, relieve
なごむnagomu · kun'yomi
- 和むなごむsoften, calm down
なごやかnagoyaka · kun'yomi
- 和やかななごやかなpeaceful, mild, amicable
Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.
- 大和やまとYamato, Japan
Also read カ, あえる, 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)禾 (sound) + 口 mouth (meaning)
Source: Wiktionary, 和 (rev. 93556160), 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
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · hé
Same form: 和 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 和 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 和 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin hé most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.