漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement
夏: summer
一 and 夂 carry the meaning · 自 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.
Three readings, and the words that use each
カka · on'yomi · in compounds
- 夏期講座かきこうざcourse in summer term
- 初夏しょかearly summer
ゲge · on'yomi
- 夏至げしsummer solstice
なつnatsu · kun'yomi · on its own
- 夏なつsummer
- 真夏まなつmidsummer
- 常夏とこなつeverlasting summer
Also read ガ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)日 sun + 頁 head; man
Some scholars identify an oracle bone character ideogrammic compound (會意): 日 (“sun”) + 頁 (“head; man”) as this character – a man under the scorching sun; summer. However, it only appears as a diviner's name, making the identification uncertain.
Source: Wiktionary, 夏 (rev. 93472654), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Head/page (頁) + go slowly (夊). Imagine a person with their face (head) tilted up, walking slowly through the intense heat of the summer sun.”
Connections
Also read ガ
9 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · xià
Same form: 夏 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 夏 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 夏 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.