Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

眼: eyeball

JLPT N111 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

目 carries the meaning · 艮 gives the sound

11 strokes

Three readings, and the words that use each

ガンgan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 眼球がんきゅうeyeball
  • 眼科がんかophthalmology
  • 眼力がんりきinsight
  • 近眼きんがんnearsightedness
  • 肉眼にくがんnaked eye
  • 双眼鏡そうがんきょうbinoculars, field glasses
  • 審美眼しんびがんaesthetic sense
  • 着眼するちゃくがんするnotice, have an eye to

ゲンgen · on'yomi

  • 開眼するかいがん/かいげんするopen one's eyes to the truth

まなこmanako · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 眼まなこeye, eyeball
  • 寝ぼけ眼ねぼけまなこhalf asleep

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 眼鏡めがねeyeglasses

Also read め, with no example words in our sources. 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)目 eye (meaning) + 艮 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 眼 (rev. 92542047), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Eye (目) + limit/boundary (艮). The physical "eyeball" itself, which defines the "limit" and current scope of a person's vision.”
From the 目 eye story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
目

Also built on eye (目)

All 24
艮

Also built on boundary (艮)

All 12

The 艮 family reads コン (kon); 眼 is read ガン、ゲン.

Also read ガン

10 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ゲン

17 kanji share this on'yomiAll 17

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
眼 eyeball · 目
vs痕 mark · 疒
眼 has 目 where 痕 has 疒.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yǎn

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

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

Pinyin yǎn 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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