巨 (Giant) - Meaning and history | Japanese Kanji
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2 min reading time
巨
Kun readings 🇯🇵
On readings 🇨🇳
The kanji 巨 means giant, huge, big.
巨 is mostly used as a prefix to mean something huge or enormous.
In this post we learn in detail the meaning of 巨, its origin, and how it is used through real example sentences.
Origin of the kanji 巨
The kanji 巨 is a radical of 5 strokes.
One of the possible origins of this kanji is 工, which is itself a radical of 4 strokes indicating a construction.
What does kanji mean 巨
The kanji 巨 is used alone to indicate something giant or huge. As a combined suffix with other kanji 巨 it adds a sense of something really big and enormous.
Examples are useful to clarify this use of the kanji 巨:
巨人:
giant(creature): literallyhuge man巨木:
big tree
Kanji readings 巨
Let's now see the various On and Kun readings that the kanji 巨 assumes.
On readings of the kanji 巨 🇨🇳
きょ
The only reading that the kanji 巨 assumes is きょ. This reading is therefore used both for the kanji alone 巨, which means huge, and in combination with other kanji.
Some words that use the kanji 巨 reading きょ are:
巨体:
giant body巨額:
huge sum(of money)巨岩:
giant stone
Examples of the kanji 巨
東京は巨大な都市です。
Tokyo is a huge city.
トムは巨大な家に住んでいる。
Tom lives in a huge house.
こうして巨悪は完全に滅びました。
In this way the great demon was completely annihilated.
