Emaki · all 1,500 words

四

よん・し

four

Mnemonic

Four walls with a pair of legs tucked inside them. Say よん. The other reading し is also the word for death, and nobody wants four of those.

Worth knowing

よん is the safe default. し survives in fixed compounds like 四月 しがつ, but is avoided elsewhere because it matches 死 death.

Built from

four
Four walls with a pair of legs tucked inside. The shape is arbitrary. The old form was a picture of breath.

Words sharing these kanji

four (things)

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Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.