変 Change

Radical Combination

• 赤

  Red
• 夂

  Winter

Meaning

Primary

Change

Alternative

Strange

Mnemonic

If the snow in winter was red instead of white, that’d be a strange change wouldn’t you say? White snow is normal, red would just be strange. Can you imagine what it would be like if the winter snow changed to the color of red?

Hints

This strange change radical is a modified version of the red radical. Use that to remember it. It’s a strange change from the normal red radical.

Readings

On’yomi

へん

Kun’yomi

か

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

You know what else is a strange thing to change? The color of a hen (へん). Hens are already red, so we’d change them to another color, like purple. That would be a pretty strange color for a hen, right?

Hints

Imagine if hens were purple, or even other strange colors. It would be an unexpected change. Imagine this army of rainbow colored hens strutting around and clucking up a storm.