Radical 8 of 20 · へん · left
言 ごんべん: words
Speech and language: talking, reading, writing down, counting out loud.
Heads 34 of the 1026 kanji taught in Japanese primary school.
字源 · WHY THIS SHAPE
From a picture to 言
Seal 篆書
c. 220 BCE- 言Today
Ancient forms: one attested example each, from the Ancient Chinese characters project on Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Shapes varied a lot by time and place. Tap an image for its source.
- 1. The picture
A mouth 口 at the bottom, with lines rising above it. They are usually read as words coming out. Scholars disagree on exactly what the top part first showed.
- 2. Squeezed to the left
On the left it keeps all its strokes and just gets thinner. Look at 話 and 語.
Origins follow the commonly taught explanations. Where scholars disagree, we say so.
What the family is about
Speech and language: talking, reading, writing down, counting out loud.
- 話tale
- 語word
- 読read
- 記scribe
When the hint fails
This is one of the most reliable radicals. Almost every member is about words in some way.
The 言 family, grade by grade
Every primary-school kanji filed under 言. Tap one to see its meaning.
Grade 2小2 · 6
言
say, word話
tale, talk記
scribe, account計
plot, plan語
word, speech読
read
Grade 3小3 · 3
調
tune, tone談
discuss, talk詩
poem, poetry
Grade 4小4 · 5
議
deliberation, consultation説
opinion, theory試
test, try課
chapter, lesson訓
instruction, Japanese character reading
Grade 5小5 · 8
設
establishment, provision証
evidence, proof護
safeguard, protect評
evaluate, criticism識
discriminating, know講
lecture, club許
permit, approve謝
apologize, thank
Grade 6小6 · 12
認
acknowledge, witness論
argument, discourse警
admonish, commandment訪
call on, visit討
chastise, attack諸
various, many誌
document, records誕
nativity, be born訳
translate, reason誠
sincerity, admonish誤
mistake, err詞
part of speech, words
Family: kanji whose classical radical in KANJIDIC2 is 言 (no. 149). KANJIDIC2 © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.