KANJI: GEN hara (primitive, original, meadow, field, plain)

ASCII Art Representation:

 
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Character Etymology:

The radical that surrounds two sides of the character is the radical for cliff while the radical inside is a variant of spring (the watery kind). Thus, cliffside spring, and by extension source/origin and primary/primitive/natural/plain/moor.

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

on-yomi: GEN
kun-yomi: hara

Nanori Readings:

Nanori: ta baru ra wata wara

English Definitions:

1. GEN: original, primitive.
2. hara: field; plain, prairie, tundra, moor, wilderness.
3. hara(ppa): plain.
4. gen-: original, primitive, primary, fundamental; raw.

Character Index Numbers:

New Nelson: 652
Henshall: 107

Unicode Encoded Version:

原

Unicode Encoded Compound Examples:

原人 (genjin): primitive man.
原文 (genbun): original text.
草原 (kusahara): grassy plain.
原生動物 (gensei doubutsu): protozoa.
原子 (genshi): atom.
原水爆 (gensuibaku): atom and hydrogen bombs.
原子物理学 (genshi butsurigaku): atomic physics.

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