辺
Area
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| へん | あたり |  + 刀 |
Meaning: Area
Think of the coolest water slide in the world (so amazing!). Now, think of your disappointment when you hear about the swords that have been sliding down the slides and getting stuck, making it uber-dangerous for you to use this slide. In fact, it’s so dangerous, they’ve had to block off the entire area. You can’t even come close, that’s how bad the whole sword-water slide situation is.
You’ll want to imagine swords everywhere… on the slide, around the slide, everywhere. Then, as you walk up to go in (because you love water slides!) a police officer comes up and stops you, saying “sorry, this area is blocked off.” Feel the disappointment, you really wanted to go in there!
Reading: へん
As you’re looking in on the blocked off area (all sad and stuff), you see something flapping around coming your way. It’s a hen (へん)… a female chicken, flying around avoiding flying swords, trying not to get hit. The hen looks like it’s flying around all crazy, but it’s really avoiding everything quite well. It’s very ninja-like.
Feel impressed by how good the hen is at avoiding things. Feel concerned for this hen as well. The more you feel for the hen, the more likely you are to remember it when you need to!
Vocabulary
Learn the meanings of these words before moving on (and the readings too, if you can!).
a 辺り（あたり）＝ Vicinity
- Meaning: The same as the kanji, for the most part. This is the kun’yomi reading… not to be confused with the very similar on’yomi version (which basically is the same meaning).
- Reading: The reading is the kun’yomi reading. You can know this because it has some hiragana sticking out.
a 辺（へん）＝ Area
- Meaning: Same as 辺り for the most part. Just another way to say sort of the same thing.
- Reading: This time it’s the on’yomi reading – even though nothing is sticking out of it. Usually seen as この辺, or something similar (attached to something).