元 – beginning, former time, origin

4 strokesTaught in grade 2#192 in newspaper frequencyN5 vocabulary

The kanji 元 means beginning, former time, origin. Its on’yomi (Chinese-derived reading) is ゲン、ガン (gen, gan); its kun’yomi (native Japanese reading) is もと (moto). It is written with 4 strokes, under radical 儿 (no. 10).

Stroke order

Stroke order from KanjiVG. Practise others with the stroke order lookup.

Readings

Type	Reading	Romaji
On’yomi	ゲン	gen
On’yomi	ガン	gan
Kun’yomi	もと	moto

A dot separates the kanji’s part from the okurigana (kana written after it), e.g. まな.ぶ → 学ぶ.

Radical and components

Radical: 儿 (Kangxi radical 10). Components: 二・儿.

Words using 元

元気げんきlively元もとorigin足元あしもとat one's feet元日がんじつNew Year's Day元々もともとoriginally元首げんしゅsovereign元素げんそelement還元かんげんrestoration元年がんねんfirst year (of an imperial era)元来がんらいoriginally手元てもとat hand地元じもとhome area

Example sentences

こんにちは、ロジャー。とっても元気よ。

Hi, Roger. I'm pretty good!

Tatoeba #217292

やってしまったことは元に戻らない。

What is done cannot be undone.

Tatoeba #193096

飲み過ぎて、なんか足元がフラフラする。

I drank too much and the ground seemed to spin under my feet.

Tatoeba #189968

Kanji with the same radical

党先光児充免兆兄克兎

Sources: KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0), Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). About the data.