漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
来: come, due
Also: next, cause, become
Three readings, and the words that use each
ライrai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 来月らいげつnext month
- 来週らいしゅうnext week
- 来年らいねんnext year
- 未来みらいfuture
- 将来しょうらいfuture
- 以来いらいsince
- 来日するらいにちするvisit Japan
くるkuru · kun'yomi · on its own
- 来るくるcome
きたすkitasu · kun'yomi
- 来すきたすcause
Also read タイ, きたる, きたす, きたる, き, こ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
Pictogram (象形) of wheat – original character of 麥 (“wheat”) or 麳 (“wheat”). The line in the middle represents the ear, the two lines pointing upwards represent leaves, and the lines pointing downwards represent the stem and roots.
Source: Wiktionary, 來 (rev. 94113042), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Stand before a great, ancient tree and see 木! The vertical line is the sturdy trunk, the top strokes are branches reaching for the sunlight, and the bottom strokes are the roots gripping the earth.”
Connections
Also read ライ
6 kanji share this on'yomiEasy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 來 · lái
Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 来. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 來.
- Simplified
- 来 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 來 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin lái most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.