KANJI: I tame (do, purpose, action)

ASCII Art Representation:

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Character Etymology:

In older forms, a pictograph of a hand reaching down toward an elephant. Some scholars have interpreted this to be referring to a hand training an elephant, which involves doing the same action over and over again and this by association gives the present meanings. However, there is a conflicting theory.

Other scholars feel that the ancient form of this character is a hand making or shaping something; and indeed, ancient meanings of this character used to mean, "to form," or, "resemble." This came to mean to imitate somebody's gestures, an act of learning something to do over and over again with, "to practice," as an associated meaning. In fact, the modern form of to imitate uses this character as a radical in combination with the radical for person.

A Listing of All On-Yomi and Kun-Yomi Readings:

on-yomi: I
kun-yomi: tame na(ru) na(su) su(ru) tari tsuku(ru) nari

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: bii

English Definitions:

1. na(ru): change; be of use; reach to.
2. na(su): do.
3. su(ru): do; try; play; practice; cost; serve as; pass; elapse.
4. ni su(ru): make (something) of (a person); turn into (money).
5. tame: good, advantage, benefit, welfare, sake; because of, as a result of.
6. tame ni: in favor of, on behalf of.

Character Index Numbers:

New Nelson: 3411
Henshall: 1003

Unicode Encoded Version:

為

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

行為 (koui): action, an act.
為筋 (tamesuji): patron.
為過ぎる (shisugiru): overdo.

The Japanese Kanji Metanode