分
Part
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| ぶん | わ.かる, わ.ける | ハ + 刀 |
Meaning: Part
The fins that fell onto my sword were sliced into two parts.
The logic of this story makes a lot of sense – even in the kanji itself the fins are falling onto the sword from above. What happens to things that fall onto swords? They become more than one part.
Reading: ぶん
Now that you’ve cut the fish, it’s time to cut something else into parts. Next on your list is the buns (ぶん) which need to be split up amongst the people.
Think about the buns as absolutely delicious things you want to eat really bad. If you want to eat the buns, and you taste the buns in your imagination, you’ll surely remember that the reading for this kanji is bun (ぶん) as well.
Vocabulary
Take a look at the common words and see how the on’yomi and kun’yomi work. While you’re at it, make sure you learn the meanings of these words (and their readings, if possible) before moving on.
a 分（ふん／ぶん）＝ part, minute
- Meaning: The meaning is the same as the kanji, though “minute” is thrown in for the vocab word. Just think, part of an hour is a minute, right? So, this is also “minute” depending on how it’s used.
- Reading: This vocab word is usually attached to another word, which is why the on’yomi reading is used.
a 分かる（わかる）＝ to understand
- Meaning: This means “to understand,” which doesn’t make a ton of sense when you compare it to the kanji’s meaning. If you think about it, though, you can never understand everything, even when you say you understand. You can actually only understand part.
- Reading: This will come up a lot in Japanese – you may already even know this word and reading!
a 分ける（わける）＝ to separate, divide
- Meaning: This means to separate or divide, which makes more sense. It’s the verb form of “part” which is why it’s “to separate.”
- Reading: If you know the reading of 分かる you can figure out the reading of 分ける. Tricky part is telling them apart.
a 一分（いっぷん）＝ one minute
- Combo: 一 (one) + 分 (minute)
- Meaning: One part (aka minute) is one minute. Same goes for two minutes (二分), three minutes (三分) and so on.
- Reading: The reading is the on’yomi reading for 分, and the shortened on’yomi reading for 一 (remember when this came up earlier with 一千?).