漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People
看: watch over, see
JLPT N19 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met
目 carries the meaning · 手 is drawn in
9 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
One reading, and the words that use it
カンkan · on'yomi · in compounds
- 看板かんばんsign, signboard, billboard
- 看守かんしゅprison guard, jailer
- 看護婦かんごふnurse
- 看破するかんぱするpenetrate, see through
- 看病するかんびょうするnurse, attend (a sick person)
- 看護するかんごするnurse, attend (a sick person)
Also read みる, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)手 hand + 目 eye
To put a hand above eyes to gaze afar.
Source: Wiktionary, 看 (rev. 92643982), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Hand (手) + eye (目). To place your "hand" over your "eyes" like a visor to better "watch" or "see" someone in your care—the essence of nursing.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side看 watch over · 手
vs盾 shield · 厂 + 十In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · kàn
Same form: 看 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 看 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 看 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin kàn 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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