The 1945 Jōyō kanji

[halpin]

こんにちは、

I'm a little confused what would be considered a kanji and what would be two kanji characters together to make a word.

For instance, would 思 or 味 be part of the list, even though two kanji make up the characters. How about 証, or would only 言 and 正 be found in the list?

ありがと

[WalterWills]

Even though 思 is made up of 田 and 心, it is still a Kanji in itself.

The elements that make up the Kanji are called "radicals", and quite often the radicals of a certain Kanji are Kanji by themselves too, such as 言 and 正 in 証.

[andamanislander]

Probably 80% of Kanji are made up of "radicals" (root elements) that are, often, themselves kanji.

How can you tell if you're looking at one kanji or two? Basically, due to the look on the page, what Japanese people call "balance". Basically, each Kanji takes up an approximately square space.

So 日 is a kanji (sun) and 月 (moon) is a kanji. But when you put them together to make 明 (bright) each of the elements gets scrunched up so the resulting kanji is still approximately square.

Clear enough?

[halpin]

That's crystal clear. Thanks very much for your feedback.