Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

脈: vein, pulse

Also: hope

JLPT N110 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

月 carries the meaning · 𠂢 gives the sound

10 strokes

One reading, and the words that use it

ミャクmyaku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 脈みゃくpulse
  • 脈拍みゃくはくpulse, pulsation
  • 脈絡みゃくらくchain of reasoning, coherence
  • 文脈ぶんみゃくcontext
  • 動脈どうみゃくartery
  • 静脈じょうみゃくvein
  • 山脈さんみゃくmountain range
  • 葉脈ようみゃくveins of a leaf
  • 不整脈ふせいみゃくirregular pulse, arrhythmia
  • 乱脈ならんみゃくなchaotic, disorderly

Also read すじ, 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

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“It looks like the moon, but it's actually muscle! When you see this "moon" on the left side of a character, don't think of the night sky—think of your own body.”
More in the 月 meat story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
月

Also built on meat (月)

All 63
𠂢

Also built on 𠂢

The 𠂢 family reads ハ (ha); 脈 is read ミャク.

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
脈 vein · 月
vs派 faction · 氵
脈 has 月 where 派 has 氵.
In ChineseSimplified 脉 · traditional, as in Japanese · mài

Japan keeps the traditional form 脈; mainland China simplifies it to 脉.

Simplified
脉 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
脈 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin mài 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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