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Kanji Detail for 縁 - "edge, connection, fate"

縁

  • Meaning

    縁 means "edge, connection, fate."

    1. Edge - The border of clothing; the rim or surrounding of objects.

    2. To follow - To cling to; to trace; to climb along.

    3. Connection - A bond; a tie.

    4. Fate - Destiny in Buddhist usage; circumstance.

    5. Veranda - An engawa (Japanese-style porch).

  • Words using 縁

    • 無縁 むえん Listen unrelated; unconnected; irrelevant
    • 因縁 いんねん Listen fate; destiny; connection
    • 血縁 けつえん Listen blood relationship; consanguinity; blood relative
    • 縁起 えんぎ Listen omen; sign of luck; origin
    • 絶縁 ぜつえん Listen breaking off relations (with); severing one's connections (with); breaking with (e.g. one's past)
    • 縁談 えんだん Listen marriage proposal; marriage talks

  • Four-character idioms with 縁

    • 合縁奇縁 あいえんきえん Listen a couple strangely but happily united; uncanny relationship formed by a quirk of fate
    • 因果因縁 いんがいんねん Listen cause and effect; karma; retribution
    • 親類縁者 しんるいえんじゃ Listen one's relatives by blood and marriage (in blood and law); one's kith and kin

  • Origin of 縁

    糸, the thread radical, beside 彖, lending the reading en. Originally the woven hem of a garment — the edge where the cloth ends and the world begins — it became the invisible tie that brings people together: fate as a shared border.

    How to remember it: The thread 糸 sewn along the hem — the edge where your cloth touches another's: the tie of fate.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 縁

    • Verified meaning: edge, connection, fate
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read えにし, えん, ちなみ, ゆか)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 縁

    Given names 縁(えにし)Listen 縁(えん)Listen 縁(ちなみ)Listen 縁(ゆか)Listen 縁(ゆかり)Listen 縁(より)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    affinity; relation; connection; edge; border; verge; brink

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    hem

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    Japanese variant of 緣|缘

  • Onyomi

    tip

    en(エン) エン

    nen(ネン) ネン

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    enishi(えにし) えにし

    fuchi(ふち) ふち

    fuchido.ru(ふちどる) ふちどる

    heri(へり) へり

    yosuga(よすが) よすが

    yukari(ゆかり) ゆかり

  • Strokes

    tip

    15 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    糸 (ito・itohen)

  • Related Keywords

    edge connection fate to follow coincidence depend rely porch veranda surroundings border brink rim margin limit bond affinity association destiny fortune luck tie link relation attachment proximity climb along

Sentences including 縁

  • Don't say such a thing.

  • It's bad luck to say that.

  • She broke with her family long ago.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 糸 (ito・itohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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