Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

影: shadow, silhouette

Also: phantom

JLPT N115 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

彡 carries the meaning · 景 gives the sound

15 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

エイei · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 影響するえいきょうするinfluence [v.t.]
  • 撮影するさつえいするtake a picture, film a movie
  • 投影するとうえいするproject [v.t.]
  • 陰影いんえいshading

かげkage · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 影かげshadow
  • 影武者かげむしゃKagemusha (shadow warrior)
  • 面影おもかげvestiges

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)景 (sound) + 彡 (meaning)

The original meaning is "shadow". The phonetic component also indicates the concept of image.

Source: Wiktionary, 影 (rev. 93352245), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Sun/bright (景) + three rays (彡). The "image" or "shadow" created when the "sun" shines and its "rays" are blocked by an object.”
From the 彡 hair-style story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
景

Also built on scenery (景)

The 景 sound family doesn't share one reading.

彡

Also built on hair-style (彡)

All 13

Also read エイ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
影 shadow · 彡
vs憬 yearn for · 忄
影 has 彡 where 憬 has 忄.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yǐng

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

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

Pinyin yǐng 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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