Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

葉: leaf, plane

Also: lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece

JLPT N312 strokesGrade 3Your ink: 白 Not met

艹 carries the meaning · 枼 gives the sound

12 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ヨウyou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 葉緑素ようりょくそchlorophyl
  • 紅葉こうようautumn colors, autumn leaves
  • 針葉樹しんようじゅconifer, needle-leaved tree
  • 枝葉末節しようまっせつtrivial details

はha · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 葉はleaf, foliage
  • 葉っぱはっぱleaf
  • 葉書はがきpostcard
  • 言葉ことばword, language, speech
  • 落ち葉おちばfallen leaves

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

  • 紅葉もみじJapanese maple

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)艸 (meaning) + 枼 leaf (sound)

枼 is the original pictogram for this word; 艸 was added to differentiate.

Source: Wiktionary, 葉 (rev. 92489730), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Grass growing on top! Like a green crown upon the earth, this radical sits above kanji related to flowers, herbs, and vegetation.”
More in the 艹 grass story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
艹

Also built on grass (艹)

All 74
枼

Also built on 枼

Also read ヨウ

34 kanji share this on'yomiAll 34
In ChineseSimplified 叶 · traditional, as in Japanese · yè

Japan keeps the traditional form 葉; mainland China simplifies it to 叶.

Simplified
叶 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
葉 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yè 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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