Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

顔: face, expression

JLPT N318 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met

彦 carries the meaning · 頁 carries meaning and sound

18 strokes
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

ガンgan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 洗顔するせんがんするwash one's face
  • 童顔どうがんbaby-faced
  • 厚顔無恥こうがんむちbrazen and unscrupulous

かおkao · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 顔かお(a person's) face
  • 顔色かおいろcomplexion
  • 素顔すがおface with no make-up
  • 笑顔えがおsmile, smiling face

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Variant form of 顏 (彥 → 彦).

Source: Wiktionary, 顔 (rev. 92746303), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Colorful/countenance + head (頁). The specific part of the "head" where a person's colorful "expressions" and identity are shown—the face.”
From the 頁 head story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
頁

Also built on head (頁)

All 24

Also read ガン

10 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSimplified 颜 · traditional, as in Japanese · yán

Japan keeps the traditional form 顔; mainland China simplifies it to 颜.

Simplified
颜 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
顔 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yán 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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