漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
法: method, law
Also: rule, principle, model, system
氵 carries the meaning · 去 is drawn in
Bronze · Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
ホウhou · on'yomi · in compounds
- 法則ほうそくlaw, principle, theorem
- 法律ほうりつlaw
- 法律学ほうりつがくjurisprudence
- 文法ぶんぽうgrammar
- 方法ほうほうmethod
- 憲法けんぽうconstitution
ハッha · on'yomi
- 御法度ごはっとtaboo
ホッho · on'yomi
- 法華宗ほっけしゅうHokke sect of Buddhism
Also read フラン, のり, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)水 water, as 氵 (meaning) + 廌 a type of antelope or caprid (meaning) + 盍 (sound)
Source: Wiktionary, 法 (rev. 92737478), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Imagine three raindrops falling—that's sanzui! Whenever you see these three dots on the left side of a kanji, think of water, liquids, or anything that flows.”
Connections
Also built on gone (去)
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · fǎ
Same form: 法 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 法 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 法 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin fǎ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.