漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife
義: righteousness, justice
Also: morality, honor, loyalty, meaning
JLPT N113 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met
羊 carries the meaning · 我 gives the sound
13 strokes
One reading, and the words that use it
ギgi · on'yomi · in compounds
- 義務ぎむobligation, responsibility
- 義理ぎりduty, debt, obligation
- 義父ぎふfather-in-law
- 義母ぎぼmother-in-law
- 正義せいぎjustice
- 主義しゅぎdoctrine
- 民主主義みんしゅしゅぎdemocracy
- 意義いぎmeaning
- 定義ていぎdefinition
- 同義語どうぎごsynonym
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)我 (sound) + 羊 (meaning)
The component 羊 here signifies "good; beautiful; auspicious" and not "sheep". See 祥, 善 and 幸.
Source: Wiktionary, 義 (rev. 90901000), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Sheep (羊) + I/my (我). Originally related to a "sheep" offered for "myself" in a solemn ritual, leading to the meaning of following what is moral and "just."”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
義 gives its sound to
The family reading is ギ (gi). Sound parts: KanjiVG.
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side義 righteousness · 羊
vs餓 starve · 飠In ChineseSimplified 义 · traditional, as in Japanese · yì
Japan keeps the traditional form 義; mainland China simplifies it to 义.
- Simplified
- 义 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 義 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin yì 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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