Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

孟: chief, beginning

JLPT N18 strokesName kanji (jinmeiyō)Your ink: 白 Not met

子 carries the meaning · 皿 is drawn in

8 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

モウmou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 孟子もうしMencius (372-289 BCE); Mengzi
  • 孔孟こうもうConfucius and Mencius
  • 孟夏もうかbeginning of summer

Also read ボウ, ミョウ, かしら, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“See the baby reaching out from the cradle! This character captures the innocence and joy of youth.”
More in the 子 child story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
子

Also built on child (子)

All 12
皿

Also built on plate (皿)

All 8

孟 gives its sound to

The family reading is モウ (mou). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read モウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ボウ

31 kanji share this on'yomiAll 31

Also read ミョウ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
孟 chief · 子
vs血 blood
孟 adds 子.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · mèng

Same form: 孟 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
孟 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
孟 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin mèng 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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