Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

変: unusual, change

Also: strange

JLPT N39 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

夂 carries the meaning · 亦 is drawn in

9 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ヘンhen · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 変化するへんかするchange
  • 変動するへんどうするfluctuate
  • 変更するへんこうするchange, modify
  • 変なへんなstrange
  • 大変なたいへんなterrible
  • 異変いへんaccident

かわるkawaru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 変わるかわるchange [v.i.]

かえるkaeru · kun'yomi

  • 変えるかえるchange [v.t.]

Also read かわり, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)䜌 (sound) + 攴 (meaning)

Source: Wiktionary, 變 (rev. 92201792), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Words (言) + following/slow (夂). A situation where "words" are "followed" by a strange or unexpected shift—the literal act of changing.”
From the 夂 to follow story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
亦

Also built on also (亦)

夂

Also built on to follow (夂)

All 11

Also read ヘン

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
変 unusual · 夂
vs恋 romance · 心
変 has 夂 where 恋 has 心.
In ChineseSimplified 变 · traditional 變 · biàn

Three different forms: Japanese 変, simplified 变, traditional 變.

Simplified
变 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
變 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin biàn most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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