漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home
開: open, unfold
Also: unseal
- 門gate(meaning)
- 开(form)
門 carries the meaning · 开 is drawn in
Four readings, and the words that use each
カイkai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 開発するかいはつするdevelop
- 開放するかいほうするthrow open
- 開設するかいせつするestablish
- 開閉するかいへいするopen and close
- 開始するかいしするstart
- 公開するこうかいするpresent to the public
- 再開するさいかいするreopen
ひらくhiraku · kun'yomi · on its own
- 開くひらくopen [v.i., v.t.]
あくaku · kun'yomi
- 開くあくopen [v.i.]
あけるakeru · kun'yomi
- 開けるあけるopen [v.t.]
Also read ひらき, -びらき, ひらける, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound (會意)門 door + 一 latch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door + 廾 a pair of hands
A pair of hands opening a latched door. 一 and 廾 are combined into 开 since the Small Seal script; however, in the conservative variant 𨵑, the two hands and the latch are well visible.
Source: Wiktionary, 開 (rev. 93737694), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Gate radical + hands moving a bolt = the act of swinging the two heavy leaves of a gate open.”
Connections
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by sideIn ChineseSimplified 开 · traditional, as in Japanese · kāi
Japan keeps the traditional form 開; mainland China simplifies it to 开.
- Simplified
- 开 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 開 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin kāi most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.