漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
坂: slope, incline
Also: hill
土 carries the meaning · 反 gives the sound
Bronze · Zhou Today
Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
ハンhan · on'yomi · in compounds
- 登坂するとはんするclimb a hill
さかsaka · kun'yomi · on its own
- 坂さかslope hill
- 坂道さかみちhill road
- 上り坂のぼりざかuphill, upgrade
- 下り坂くだりざかdownhill, downgrade
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)土 (meaning) + 反 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 坂 (rev. 91717532), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Earth radical + return/back (反) = land that rises up and forces you to work hard to climb—a slope.”
Connections
Also built on anti- (反)
坂 takes the 反 family's reading, ハン (han).
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · bǎn
Same form: 坂 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 坂 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 坂 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin bǎn most common reading
False friend. In simplified Chinese, 坂 also stands for 阪 (heights, slope), which Japanese writes as a separate kanji.
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.